Haku-nii?
by MercifulPeaceGraceWisteria
Summary: Sakura and Haku are siblings and got seperated during the killing spree. Luckily, Sakura was able to escape and got rescued by the Leaf Village ninja. Wait, people think Sakura is what? Well, this is going to be awkward. Also, her thought-to-be-dead brother makes an appearance. Currently being rewritten. There may be a few new chapters in between edits...Read if you're interested.
1. Prologue

Hello! I was attacked by a plot bunny that really wanted to be written and read by other people, so here you go! Please read my other story A Change in Identity if you really liked this one! If this story is liked enough I'll post the next chapter. If not, I'll discontinue it and take it off.

It'll sound awkward, but the next chapter should clear everything up! Enjoy!

**REWRITTEN: JUNE 16, 2014**

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><p>Gasps expelled from lungs.<p>

A heartbeat raced frantically with fear induced adrenaline.

A small figure leapt through the dense forest away from the village.

Tiny footprints were imprinted into the dense, white snow.

A child.

In the villager's eyes...

A survivor of The Purge.

The child clumsily ran through thin trees, angry yells following closely behind. The end of the child's pants got caught in a shrub, tripping the child. The child grunted as the branch broke under a desperate yank. The child continued to run, but now the voices were much closer. The child screamed in anguish as their long hair was pulled back by one of the pursuers. A struggle ensued, but the man's grip was too strong. Reaching into a bag, the child took a kunai that was a gift from their elder sibling and ran the blade through soft locks. The attacker fell to the ground as the child was propelled forward due to the lack of resistance. The child fled as quickly as possible into the dense forest where the glittering snow piled higher and higher. Crashing into a hidden tree root, the child faltered and hit the trunk of a tree causing disoriented vision and a throbbing headache. Finally collapsed into a pile of snow, hidden from view. Exhausted and bitterly cold, the child shivered as the angry villagers led by the previous attacker ran towards a nearby, yet opposite direction where the child lay, frantically searching for the child. A midst the yells for 'The Purge to be completed', the child fell into a dreamless sleep.

"Is the child dead?"

"I wouldn't think so, is it?"

"No, the child is suffering from moderately severe hypothermia and extreme exhaustion, speeding up the hypothermia, but the child isn't dead… at least not yet."

"Perhaps we should return it to the village. They would probably do something."

"No, did you see how desperately they were trying to kill? They would only murder the child in cold blood for no reason. Besides, they could view our appearance as a threat seeing as they are not a ninja village."

"Then should we return with the child to our village?"

"That seems to be the most logical proceeding."

"I agree. That seems like the safer approach, our village's orphanage can take in another child."

"Very well then, let's move."

"Hai!" The child was lifted into a pair of arms, the wind whipping across their face as the saviors sprinted away.

"Dear? Can you wake up please?" a kind voice murmured. The child groaned as eyes opened to see a motherly looking nurse.

"Where-where am I?", the child's throat was dry with dehydration.

"You're in the hospital. One of our teams was on a mission when they found you freezing to death on a field of snow and rescued you," she provided. Then, "Our village's orphanage is willing to take you in." The child nodded, content with the fact they weren't going to be sent back to the other village to die.

Finally, "What's your name,dear?"

The child gave it some thought,'Name? Oh right, Something Haruno…'.

A mutter, "Haruno."

"Is that it? No last name?"

Head shake.

"Well, Haruno, I'm sure you'll make a wonderful addition to someone's family. After all you seem like a very charming young man."

The child blinked. 'Young man?'

The child was a girl.

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><p>Well, what do you think? Sorry, it's short and weird, but I felt that it should stop right here. As always, reviews needed. Comments and constructive criticism is fine, but no flames. And a special hello to my <span>A Change in Identity<span> readers!

Japanese:English (just in case)

Hai: Yes

Kunai: A ninja weapon


	2. Chapter 1

Hello, my fellow readers! Hope you are doing well! See this idea came to me when I was re-watching Naruto and how Naruto thought Haku was a girl. So, the plot bunny thought what if we change that up and make it so that everybody thought Sakura (Haruno) was a boy? And then decided to find me and maul my face until it produced this story.

Enjoy!

**REWRITTEN: JUNE 22, 2014**

Note: I decided to eliminate the little stories at the bottom. If you want me to keep them please let me know! :)

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><p>Clueless to the truth about our dear main character, the woman had already created a file on Haruno. On it, Haruno was classified as a young 'boy' that was found in the forests outside of a small Snow Country Village. After checking out of the hospital she was then sent to the orphanage. The orphanage had recently gained more space, now that the children that had lost their parents to the "incident" had joined the ninja academy. Haruno's ears perked at this, to hear that her family was not the only one struck by an unforeseen tragedy and that the Leaf trained ninjas.<p>

To keep up appearances Haruno (as she could not remember her first name) dressed as a boy would. Her clothes were loose and simple, black pants, red shirt. She was a growing girl and therefore had to be more careful about not letting others know her true gender. As a precaution, she would always wrap her chest as well as the bottom half of her face in bandages. She constantly cut her pink hair. It was cut close to her scalp in a pixie cut. She had two bunches of hair that hung slightly below her shoulders, the one on her right was slightly longer than the left. On better days, she would reflect on how having short hair gave her one less thing to worry about.

Haruno's female tendencies were surprisingly minimal. She didn't particularly like to go shopping unless it was for necessities. As for liking boys, she didn't like any of them, especially when comparing them to her Nii-san. She often sighed as she saw the village girls fawn over the raven haired boy. Not even the last Uchiha could hold a candle to her Nii-san. He seemed too moody, arrogant and overly dramatic to even catch her attention. He would always ignore the girls and dismiss them rudely. Her Nii-san was calm, kind, and helpful. Even when facing all of his lunatic followers, Haku-nii would always smile at them and join in whatever they had in mind-within reason! Besides, that Uchiha was creepy- he always seemed to be looking at her, whether it be at the library, shopping, or even swamped with fangirls, he'd would always be looking at her. Almost as if he knew…but whenever she would look at him, his eyes widened before he looked away. Wait-was he blushing? What is going on?!

To fill in her mostly empty days, Haruno would go train in a remote forest clearing where she found a Sakura tree in the middle with a small river flowing through it. The clearing was beautiful and everything she and her brother dreamed of, which is where she made an impromptu grave for him, right under the Sakura tree. She visited the clearing religiously, never missing a single day. She would always bid hello to her brother and then practice what little ice jutsu and taijutsu her brother taught her, after all, he was just an academy student at that time as well. He also taught her something special if she learned quickly enough-a little something to do with crystals. After training, she would often lie there next to her Onii-san to rest before strolling into the village for lunch. Haruno often ran errands for the merchants and she would receive lunch in exchange. Today, she got a tiny package with dango in it in for going to buy more sugar and flour for the merchant.

People, most often girls, would occasionally comment on how cute "he" was. She didn't mind much, well, other than the irritating giggles that never seemed to end. That and this thing the girls were doing with him and the Uchiha-a competition of sorts? Oh and while we're at it there is also that one day where the girls try to hound him with gifts. What was that day now? Oh, yeah, her birthday. SIGH. She just had to suffer through it. After all she chose not to mention that she was actually pretending to be a guy. Who told them of her birthday anyway? Oh, yeah, that idiot had to yell it so the whole village knew.

When she was old enough, Haruno requested to become enlisted enlisted the ninja academy. She was determined to follow in the footsteps of her brother who died in the village rampage. The Leaf Village ninja had gone back to the location Haruno had run from and they saw that the villagers had returned to the town, while her house Haruno lived at was 'destroyed' and they left it at that. When she asked about her Nii-san, they said her brother was not found in the woods,nor the village, so he was assumed to be dead. She still wanted to keep the fond memory she had of her brother. She liked to think that she was making him proud and that he was guiding her in her life's journey.

Today was Haruno's graduation day from the ninja academy. She was finally going to get assigned to a genin team with a jonin sensei. At the back of her mind she wondered if they were going to put a girl in her team, making it a group of two girls and a boy, which would in a way break the traditional two boy and girl squad. She bid goodbye to her brother at her training ground and calmly walked to the school. She took her regular seat in the middle of the class as a certain loudmouth blond walked into class. When Naruto noticed Haruno, he strolled up to her and waved eagerly. She smiled underneath her bandages and stood to meet halfway with her friend.

"Haruno-chan!" the blond yelled eagerly at his friend.

"Hey Naruto," Haruno replied as she fist bumped her friend. She walked back behind the desk to sit in the window seat next to the energetic blond. She sat back leisurely in her seat and sighed. Ah, the many benefits of being a boy in a ninja world. The training was more intense and fulfilling. The jutsu range was wider. Best of all, she didn't have to pretend to be weak to give the guys an ego boost, for Haruno wasn't one to be "delicate" like a girl "should" and have a boy "protect" her.

She was too into her thoughts to notice more people walking into class before a shy voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"G-good morning H-haruno-kun and,um, Nar-Naruto-kun!" Hinata's voice squeaked higher at the end of her sentence.

"Morning Hinata-chan!" Naruto cried enthusiastically with a glittering smile.

"Good morning Hinata-san," Haruno smiled underneath her bandages.

After witnessing the smiles of the two 'boys', Hinata's face dropped and flushed a bright red. She offered a soft spoken goodbye before she hurried to her seat. The two left looked at each other, one with a look of confusion, the other a small laugh at the clueless one. After chatting with each other shortly, Naruto stood up to go to the bathroom.

As class was about to begin, the rest of the students came in. The last boy to arrive sharply opened the tatami door and walked slowly to a seat. Who else would it be than that so called infamous Uchiha?

Haruno groaned mentally, and here she was having such a good morning. She took of her pouch and dug through its contents. After much searching, she panicked. 'Where are they?'

Thuds of feet could be heard, become louder and louder with the second. Haruno dumped the contents of her pouch on the ground and swiftly sorted through the pile. 'There!' Haruno took the item and used it accordingly. She also discreetly threw a pack to the previously mentioned Hyuuga heiress, who caught them with a slight blush and grateful glance. Haruno only gave a boyish grin, making the Hyuuga flush bright red. It was one of her more evil past times- finding new ways of making the heiress blush. She chuckled to herself, but then she recalled the evil waiting to occur and her grin was wiped into a frown, paired with a glare.

The door slid open again. Haruno's eye twitched along with that of the rest of the class. 3...2-

"KYAAAAA! Good Morning Sasuke-kun!" The fan girl mob suddenly appeared behind at the door. They quickly swarmed the desk where the broody boy sat at. The fan girls squealed like piglets and throwing promises and praises to the ignorant Uchiha before finally noticing Haruno as well. Haruno flinched.

"KYAAAAA! Good Morning to you too, Haruno-kun!" Haruno thought her ears were going to die-and she was wearing earplugs! Why did Uchiha have to exist? No, that was too rude. Rather, why did the girls find him so amazing? Suddenly, it grew quiet. The ticking of the clock could be heard. Haruno was starting to get worried, what happened?

The silence was suffocating and the fangirls were all staring into one spot in the class, which was right next to where Haruno was sitting. She was sweating bullets and hesitated. She slowly turned her head to her side and saw that a seat over Sasuke had sat down.

'Oh, no.' Haruno paled.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAH! Haruno-kun and Sasuke-kun are sitting close to each other!" The screams were headache inducing, shatter-glass-in-one-go loud. Which they did. Haruno could have sworn that at least half of the class went deaf. A sharp intake from the fan girls. Haruno shivered, here it comes.

"And there's a seat in between them!" the entire village turned to look at the academy where it seemed that loud shrieks emanated from. The villagers looked at each other before shaking their heads, they felt bad for any poor person inside of that building in such close proximity to the ear splitting yells.

It grew silent again as the girls turned from the seat and started to look at each other. The boys were passed out, flopped and lifeless on the ground. Some had blood pouring out of their poor, deaf, ears, which they may never recover from. The fan girls were silently gazing at each other. Glares were exchanged with one another.

"THAT'S MY SEAT!" The fangirls roared. They then proceeded to fight each other for than one seat. Haruno discreetly dug into her ears to take off her earplugs, which she was searching for through her pouch. She had a feeling something of this caliber was going to happen so she made sure to pack a few into her pouch. She continued to gaze into the mayhem of girls. As soon as one fan girl was about to sit in the chair, another girl would yank on one of her appendages or hair and pull her back into the fray. Haruno wilted, what was wrong with these girls?

Haruno quivered in her seat. As for duck-butt, who had also had plugs in his ears, ignored everything in life. Haruno mentally questioned why everything in her life is so crazy. 'What did I do to deserve this? Nii-san? Can you save me from this nightmare?'

You see, Sasuke was your typical moody "dreamboat" as the girls like to put it. He was dark, mysterious, and gorgeous and had a troubled past. He had-has-a dark past and always broods to himself in the corner. He did not allow anyone to get close to him, be it physically or emotionally. The girls all yearned to be that one girl to be the one he opened up to and spent his time with. Then after a long time together, he would confess his undying love to them. (A/N: Pfft.) The girls were also infatuated with Haruno for different reasons. Haruno on the other hand was nearly the exact opposite of Sasuke. She was kind and gentlemanly. She always spoke politely to others regardless of their treatment towards her and always tried to protect everyone. She had pink hair and green eyes, which was an odd coloring in the village. She was the girls' "charming prince from another land". They all believed that he truly was a foreign prince simply pretending to be average and wanted "him" to direct "his" attention towards one of them and whisk that girl away to his homeland and make her a princess. Haruno often wondered what ran through the minds of these crazy girls. Though she had previous encounters with crazy girls with her brother. Call her biased, but her Nii-san certainly was a catch, as opposed to the Uchiha or herself.

Haruno sighed,' Nii-san.' Though she often raved to her brother about the crazy girls, she would go through it again 100 times if only he was there with her. She also felt bad for her brother since he had to deal with equally psychotic females in their frozen homeland as well as an irate sister.

By this time, the girls were still going strong. Naruto had just returned from the restroom and sat in his seat. Haruno looked at him in pity, he just gave up his life today. The girls stopped fighting and started to stare at him, picking the attention of Naruto.

"What?" Naruto asked. Haruno sighed, she knew her friend well. Which flowers should he bring to his funeral? Probably some from the clearing, or some that Yamanaka girl keeps sending her. One thing was clear though, Naruto wasn't going to live. He had two deadly traits: he was blunt and oblivious.

"NARUTO!YOU'RE SO DEAD!" The girls closest to the desk grabbed on to a piece of Naruto's clothing. Naruto squeaked in fear as he was forced into the center of the crowd and beaten to a pulp. Blow after blow was forced on the orange clad genin. Haruno could only watch as her best friend was turned to mush.

Haruno sighed again as she sat in the desk the girls were vying for. The Uchiha raised an eyebrow at her which she returned with a glare, earning a look of confusion. She somehow managed to pluck her friend out of the one-on-everyone fight. She sat Naruto down in her old seat. She took a deep breath which somehow caught the girls' attention.

"I'm sorry about this, but the seats in this row are all taken. Maybe one of you can sit next to me some other time, 'kay?" Haruno flashed her winning smile at the girls, causing them to flush a bright red. "See, I was trying to save this seat for my friend Naruto."

"Ehhh~h! You're such a good friend Haruno-kun~n!" They all sighed at the 'boy's' consideration for his friend. They happily chattered to each other as the score keeper took to her duty. More points for the pink haired prince.

"5 points for Haruno," she called.

"Yatta! That means Haruno is in the lead!" one fangirl cheered.

"Eh?! But didn't Sasuke-kun have 10 points top over Haruno-kun?" another said.

"Liar! Haruno-kun was always in the lead!" a brunette raged.

"Nuh-uh! It's Sasu-kun!"

"Haruno-kun!"

One half of the girls donned white headbands with Haruno's name on it. They magically pulled on red shirts with Haruno's name and fan girl written on it.

The other half had black headbands with Sasuke's name on it. They also pulled out shirts, though these were blue in color with Sasuke's name and fan girl written on it.

Both sides had flags with faces of their person of choice. There was a leader for each side.

For Sasuke there was a long-haired blond with her hair in a high ponytail, bangs covering one eye. She had purple clothing and blue armor (Ino). She had a kunai in each hand and pointed them at the opposing group.

"Sasuke-kun!" the girls in blue yelled.

For Haruno there was a brunette with a wavy bob haircut. She had green clothing and red armor (not important OC). She had shuriken, three in each hand, pointed at the opposing squad.

"Haruno-kun!" the girls in red yelled.

The girls were ready to battle. Before another fight could break out Haruno kicked her desk and it toppled over catching the girls attention. She then spoke,

"Anyway, thanks for understanding," Haruno smiled politely again. The girls swooned one last time, dropping their "friendly debate" before waving to their two love interests. Sasuke ignored them completely while Haruno politely waved back at them. The fan girls then left to go find their seats, just as Iruka-sensei walked in through the door with a stack of papers.

"Okay class, today I'm going to be splitting you up into your three man genin teams. You'll all meet your sensei after I put you in your teams. Good luck with your new teams." He starts to list off teams and most zone out, until their names are called. He goes through most of the list when,

"Alright now, Team 7," Iruka blinks and then begins to meltdown internally. "Sasuke Uchiha-" fan girls squeal at the name, "-Haruno Amarante-" bigger fan girl squeals were heard followed by sharp gasps from girls who weren't put into teams and whines from girls that were already put in teams. The two most highly desired males in the academy were in a genin team together, the girl paired up with them would be the luckiest girl in history! Pleads to Kami-sama were sent simultaneously, all the leftover girls praying for their dreams to come true! This is their last chance! This is the once in a million lifetimes golden opportunity! And the winner is- "-and Naruto Uzumaki." What?

All of the people in the class were in shock. Some were openly gaping like Naruto and others you could only see in their eyes like Sasuke. The fan girls yelled out in outrage, once again making people's ears explode. Iruka sighed as he rubbed his temples to try and soothe his now raging headache,"I know you're all surprised that 3 boys are put in a team without a kunoichi, but there was a lack of girls enrolled in the academy this year, so there had to be a team of boys, sorry."

The fangirls all whined in sadness. Haruno could only smirk to herself. 'Oh, if only you knew the truth, Iruka-sensei.'

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><p>Japanese: English (just in case)<p>

dango: Japanese dumpling/sweet made from mochiko

genin: low level ninja

jonin: high level ninja

sensei: teacher

justsu: art or technique

kunai: a ninja weapon

shuriken: a ninja weapon

-kun: added to the end of a boy's name as a form of endearment

-chan: added to the end of a girl's name as a form of endearment


	3. Chapter 2

Sorry for the super long wait, but someone thought it would be frickin' hilarious to take me from my laptop and go to a ''round the country field trip that we're a hundred percent sure won't last more than two weeks''. LIES.

Anyway, I'm back in time for school, so I will work on this as diligently as I can.

**REWRITTEN: JULY 3, 2014**

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><p>The genin teams all ended up meeting their sensei that day. Some were normal seeming sensei, like the black haired kunoichi from Squad 8 and bearded shinobi from Squad 10. Others looked downright weird, like the sadistic one from Squad 9 and the creeper one from Squad 3. The classroom had quickly emptied out in a short span of time. Finally, the last ones remaining were the odd group of "boys" otherwise known as Team 7. Seconds went to minutes and minutes turned to hours. Frankly, they were all bored waiting for their new teacher. Haruno gazed at her two teammates. Sasuke was completely slouched in his seat with his face in his hands and a burning glare directed at the clock which seemed to slow down. Haruno wondered if slouching like that was even good for his spine. Meanwhile, Naruto was groaning in boredom every few seconds now fully laying on top of his desk, fidgeting, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.<p>

Haruno couldn't disagree with the boys. She was bored right out of her mind too. She had just finished doodling a picture of her brother and herself, which was very well done, if she did say so herself. As of now, they have been waiting a grand total of just over 3 hours for their new sensei. It didn't seem like their sensei was coming to see them any time soon. Even Iruka-sensei, who normally wouldn't leave before his students and scold them for their fooling around, looked at the clock on the wall and groaned.

"Still as late as ever I see…" he muttered to himself, but Haruno had heard.

'Our sensei is a chronically lazy man?' she thought mentally. This wasn't going to help her at all. She wanted a good sensei to teach her. She looked out the window, 'if only Nii-san were here he could teach me the things I would need to learn...' She then turned to face Iruka as he spoke,

"Ah, sorry...but I really need to get going. I'm going to have to leave you guys here." Iruka apologized as he started to pack his things.

"No! Noooo! Iruka-sensei! Don't leave yet! Our sensei's not even here!" Naruto whined while gripping to the man's vest, puppy eyes watering. He was dragged along as Iruka tried to make his escape.

Iruka sighed again as he tried to peel the orange clad boy off of his vest. "I know that Naruto, but I really need to get to a meeting. Don't do anything reckless! I mean it Naruto," Iruka said with a pointed glare. He opened the door without turning his back to his previous students and left while still without turning away from them and glare in place.

Naruto suddenly growled in frustration causing Haruno to break from her thoughts. He jumped down from the desk and walked up to the chalkboard in the front of the class and took a dusty eraser. He glared at the object, trying to drill holes into it with his sight alone. The other two watched him carefully as he walked to the door. He yanked a nearby chair to the door. He opened the door slightly and stood up on the chair.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Haruno asked.

"Our sensei's taking too long. Once he opens this door all the way, he's going to get a nasty surprise!" Naruto said as he wedged the eraser into the door. He jumped down from the chair and gave a fox-like grin.

"How do you know if our sensei's a man? What is it's a woman?" Haruno asked. Seriously, all this sexism was going to make her head explode.

"Well-,"Naruto began, his gaze flickering around the room. Haruno, for some reason, was a feminist guy-he didn't like gender stereotypes.

"You're an idiot Naruto," Sasuke said. He didn't really want to talk to the blond idiot, but he was desperate. Also, he would never say it in front of the pink haired male, but he doubted that they were going to get a kunoichi sensei because they just weren't as strong as the males. Sasuke needed to get the best teacher, after all, he's the last surviving Uchiha. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the blond haired menace.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Sasuke. Either way they're gonna regret being late!" Naruto snickered.

"Stupid, they're a jonin. They won't fall for a trick made by an idiot like you." Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blond. Even a little kid could notice that the door was open and there was an eraser in between the entryway.

"Oh, yeah! Come say that to my face Uchiha!" Naruto yelled. The two then proceeded to bicker.

Haruno shook her head. Her idiot friend really needs to wise up and the duck-butt needed to relax. She was going to get major headaches-migraines-during their time together.

Suddenly, the door slid open and the eraser fell on top of a head of silver hair. Sasuke and Haruno looked in shock, while Naruto started grinning like a fool and turned to the dark haired boy, "see! I told you it'd work!"

The man, for sure this time, bent down to pick up the eraser from the floor and placed it back where it belonged. He then turned to look at each of his new students before speaking.

"My first impression of you guys? You're all idiots."

An eyebrow of each of the younger members of the group twitched. They didn't take too well to being insulted, especially from this gray-haired man, who couldn't even seem to dodge the eraser and knew nothing about them.

"Meet me at the top of the tower in 10 minutes." The silver haired jounin disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The group all glared angrily at the spot where the man stood. They then grudgingly walked out of the class to get to the tower. They sat down on the small steps at the top of the building and waited again for their sensei. Luckily, they didn't have to wait long this time. The jounin reappeared with a poof in front of the trio.

"Alright, let's start off with a few details like your names, likes, dislikes, goals, hobbies." he said.

"Well, why don't you go first! Since you're our sensei now! You need to show us how!" Naruto shouted at their teacher.

The man gripped his chin between his thumb and index finger. Let's see...my name is Hatake Kakashi. Likes, a few. Dislikes, a lot. I have a few hobbies. As for dreams, I don't want to tell you.

"You only told us your name!"

"That's the point stupid."

"Grrr! Sasuke!" Naruto waved an angry fist at the Uchiha.

"Let's start with you blondie," Kakashi ignored their verbal fight.

"Okay!"Naruto cheered up at being the first. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I like ramen, especially pork ramen from Ichikaru's! Oh, and Haruno-chan!" Haruno rolled her eyes at the affectionate term, but smiled softly at her friend. For some reason the last Uchiha glared at the blond. "I don't like Sasuke-" the Uchiha scoffed at him, "-or the 3 minutes it takes for ramen to cook. My hobbies are training with Haruno and doing pranks. My dream is to be Hokage so people can finally start respecting me and treating me like I'm somebody!"

'Okay, so I have a ramen obsessed toddler as one of the genin I have to train,' Kakashi thought. He then turned towards the dark haired male, "what about you?"

"My name is-(cue dramatic pause and eye rolls)-Sasuke Uchiha. I don't really like anything-" very brief eye flicker to the pinkette- "and I hate just about everything. My hobbies are training and getting stronger and more powerful. My goal-my future-is to kill a certain someone..." Naruto shivered in fear of being Sasuke's target while Haruno looked up to the skies, asking why she had to suffer the punishment of having an arrogant teammate.

'I have an emo-drama queen bent on revenge with chicken-butt hair,' Kakashi mused. Finally he turned towards Haruno, "And you?"

"My name is Haruno Amarante. I like to help people in the village and training with Naruto-kun. I don't like dramatic people-"subtle glance at the Uchiha "-or people who endanger others. My hobbies are to help people, read, and train. My goal is to be strong to protect the people I care about." Haruno smiled. She then perked up with a happy smile on her face, "Oh! And make a certain someone proud of me!" Haruno smiled hugely as she clenched her fists close to herself. The two boys looked at each other in confusion, before glaring at each other. They had an idea of how the person Haruno wanted to impress was (though they are wrong).

'And last, but not least, a dedicated bleeding-heart kunoichi with vibrant pink hair.' Kakashi sighed. His expression became a bit more thoughtful, 'and it also seems that there are some interesting emotions swirling in this team. Both boys seem smitten with the kunoichi...'-his gaze turned heavenly, 'Eh~, this is like one of those books I read! Oh, the conflicting romance~! I wonder who she's going to pick? Her personal ray of sunshine or the bad boy? I think it's ah-!'. He then burst his personal thought bubble and cleared his throat.

"Alright then, we are going to get all of you new clothes fit for shinobi. You would all be easy to spy targets if you went out in missions." The genin looked amongst themselves and thought the the silver haired man was right. Dark blue, red, and orange don't really mix into the average background of green, brown, and black. Though hesitant to give up their signature clothing, they agreed, as long as a few modifications to their clothing was allowed.

"You two come with me." He spoke to Naruto and Sasuke. He turned towards Haruno, "you are going to have to search for a kunoichi clothing store somewhere in the village 'cause I don't know where one is." The genin seemed confused. Kakashi's eyebrow rose, did they think he would know where one was? Surely, his reputation didn't go this far...

"I'm a boy." Kakashi's eyes widened and he seemed to nearly choke on his own saliva. He turned rapidly towards the apparently very feminine looking boy. He could have sworn that Haruno was a girl. Well, this is what he gets for ignoring Iruka's blabbing about Team 7. He turned to look at the two other boys. They nodded in affirmation. Kakashi was shocked. Who was going balance the team out? This was why there was always a kunoichi in a newly formed genin team, to stop the boys from killing each other because of testosterone filled fights and to keep appearances up with other villages. If the other rival villages knew that there was a squad of three boys without a girl, they would do the same and then the world will go into chaos with war! But most importantly, WHO IS GOING TO END UP WITH WHO?! All bets are off now that Haruno is said to be a boy. Kakashi began to mentally chewed his nails. Will the two boys still try to win the affections of the pinkette regardless of his gender? Will that end up getting in the way of everything? Ack! Kakashi agonized, this story just took a whole new turn!

Haruno eyed her new sensei's distress. "Don't worry Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi turned to look at the rosette. " I'll take the role of kunoichi and to keep these two in line."

"You do realize that this means you will have to act and dress like one too."

"I know."

Kakashi had to give him props. The boy had the guts to pretend to be a girl for the sake of his team. He also wondered how this would affect things later. Ah, he hated waiting for a sequel to come out…. He patted the pink-haired ninja's head, wishing him good luck. He held up his hand in a farewell gesture while Naruto eagerly waved his hand back and forth and Sasuke just stood there with his hands in his pockets, trying to look cool.

'Hmm.' Haruno thought as she walked through the streets looking for a particular kunoichi clothing store. 'This'll be odd. I finally get to look and act like a girl, yet my team will still believe I am a boy...This'll be hilarious.' She smirked as she picked up the pace and jogged quicker through the streets.

Haruno was walking through the streets trying to find her particular kunoichi clothing store. She finally reaches the store appropriately named _Kunoichi Life _and walks in looking around the brightly lit store at all the different clothes left on display.

An assistant walks up to her. "Welcome to- Ah! Hello, Haru-kun! Out doing another errand?" She says smiling. Haruno smiles as well as she met up with the assistant. She ran into the assistant a few times after running some errands for the owner a while back. Asami had bright golden hair with green eyes, the same shade as green from the leaves in sunlight. They ended up becoming fast friends, despite the so-called 'difference in gender'.

"Hello Asami-san. I am here to ask for help in trying to find some clothes that would fit me." Haruno told Asami.

"Um, Haru-kun," Asami said with a tilt to her head causing her somewhat short blonde locks to brush against her shoulder, "You do know that this is a kunoichi only clothing store right?"

Haruno nervously rubbed the back of her head, "Ah, I know, see that's why I'm here…"

"Oh, are they for a friend?" Asami asked curious. Her expression turned devious," Or do you want to get a present for a certain interest of yours?"

Haruno's face grew somber. She was not into any of the girls, rabid as they are."Actually, I need them for myself," Haruno said with a blush on her face. "You see, I was placed in a team with two other boys and-"

"-you were the most feminine of the boys and were therefore chosen to pretend to be the kunoichi, hmm?" Asami concluded. Haruno nodded. "Well, that's awful. I know that the village hasn't had a full team of boys in a long time, but just because you look feminine Haru-kun doesn't mean that you automatically have to be the kunoichi."

"It's fine Asami-san, I don't mind." Haruno said smiling. 'I'm already a girl so it's better that I 'pretend' to be the kunoichi anyways.' She thought.

"If you say so Haru-kun. Now let's see if we can find anything in your size..." Asami said as she pulled Haruno towards a few of the racks closer to the back of the store, much to the relief of Haruno. And that my friends, is where chaos ensued.

Haruno was trying to find something more camouflage-like and comfortable while Asami thought that since she was 12, it would be expected that she wears something girlish and give her slim body more fake curves as to not give away her male (false) gender. Some were too bland for Asami's tastes and others were too embarrassing for Haruno's. Many clothes were tried on by Haruno that day along with nods of approval and shakes of the head. Piles and piles of clothes were interchanged at the store that day. Other customers looked in awe at the rate the two were going through clothes. After many trials and errors, the assistant and ninja managed to come up with several items for Haruno to buy. The two were exhausted from their searching and night had already fallen. Applauses filled the store as the last customers left the store. Eager chatter of that day's escapades filled the night, especially those of a blonde and pinkette that ended up trying over half of what the store offered.

"Have a nice evening Haru-kun..." Asami said as she pulled her keys out of her pocket, waiting for the 'boy' to leave the store before locking up.

"Thank you, Asami-san.." Haruno thanked, struggling to carry the large bags in her hand. She dumped the items onto the sidewalk, which left a tiny dent in the ground. Haruno pulled out a sealing scroll that she received as a gift a few weeks prior and sealed all the clothes in it.

"Would you like for me to walk you home Asami-san?" Haruno offered.

"No, that's alright Haru-kun! I wouldn't want to bother you, besides its really close by," Asami replied.

"It's alright. It's the least I could do for the help you gave me,"Haruno said as she nervously rubbed the back of her head, a tick she picked up from spending so much time with Naruto.

"Ah, alright then. This way," Asami led. Haruno walked beside her as they chatted to each other. They finally reached Asami's home which was at the outskirts of the village, where the shinobi side clashed with the civilian side of the village.

"Thank you for everything Asami-san," Haruno bowed.

"It's no problem at all. Feel free to come by again if you need more assistance or have any questions!" Asami laughed.

Haruno blushed slightly at the odd predicament. "Right, thanks again Asami-san!" Haruno yelled as she ran back to her place. Asami leaned her head on one of the pillars to her house and crossed her arms. Oh, that poor boy, he's going to have a lot of challenges ahead of him.

Haruno finally made back to her apartment and sorted all of her clothes. She walked to her closet where she moved all of her male clothing to the far right of her closet. She gave a small moment of silence to the clothes that would now not become a part of her daily routine. They served her well and they were comfortable. She then placed all her new girl clothes in the easier-to-reach left side of her closet and plopped on her bed before going to sleep.

x

The next morning, Haruno took out a more feminine outfit from her closet and proceeded to the restroom to take a shower and change into her new clothes. The clothes were grabbed at at random so she had no idea what she took out of all of the ones she bought on that shopping spree with Asami. Haruno made sure to be twice as careful when it came to binding her chest, since the girl clothes were significantly tighter than her boy clothes. She grabbed at the clothes she took with her to the bathroom. Haruno separated the articles and pulled them on, taking care to make sure that she wasn't wearing anything the wrong way. She fidgeted in front of the mirror, tugging her clothes here and there. She was just so uncomfortable with these new clothes…Asami probably snuck them in when she wasn't looking. They were just so…girly….

After dressing, Haruno combed through her hair and pulled her headband tight to her forehead. She then quickly made something to eat before grabbing a long cloak and leaving her house to go to the training field. She threw glances around herself quickly hoping no one significant would see her. She didn't want to have to explain her situation or worse have someone run off and start a horribly false rumor of her being a crossdresser (A/N: No offence to crossdressers.)

Haruno noticed that she was the second to last to reach the field. She quickly hid behind a tree behind her two teammates, so they wouldn't see her. With the two currently being locked in a heated argument, she could easily dodge them on top of a tree branch.

That's when she saw that her teammates had changed their attire. She noticed that Naruto's outfit was a bit less-orange. There were more camouflage colors added to his jacket and pants like green and brown, but completely taking away the bright color was an impossibility. Sasu-duckbutt, as she lovingly nicknamed him, wore all black with the Uchiha crest visible on the clothes. 'Big surprise there' Haruno thought rolling her eyes.

The last member of the team showed up with a casual salute and a 'yo'. He was later shot down with a yell and harsh glare after being late, again.

Kakashi sighed before straightening out of his slouch. "Well, I see that Naruto and Sasuke are all dressed accordingly," he turned his lazy gaze onto the other member of the team,"well, how are you dressed Amarante?"

Haruno blushed several shades of red. The others turned to see where she was hiding. Haruno jumped down from her perch on the limb of the tree and then hid behind said tree. She was on good terms with Asami-chan and she was a girl as well, but, but...these clothes! She's just not used to them! She clutched onto her cloak as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Amarante, let's see." Kakashi ordered.

"Yeah, it'll be fine Haru-chan! We won't laugh promise, well no, not really.." Naruto said while sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck as Haruno glared at him. Sasu-butt was just being all moody in the background while gazing in Haruno's direction, waiting.

"We need to make sure that you appear feminine enough so that people do not know that you are male. I know this is hard for any boy to do, but it's for the safety of the village." Kakashi said.

"Just show us already Amarante, you're just being annoying," Sasuke mocked.

"Ugh, fine! If you laugh I will hit you." Haruno said with a deep glare in the males' direction. They nodded slowly in consent. She sighed and stepped away from the trunk of the tree so that her team could clearly see her. Haruno slowly untied the knot that held her cloak together and swiftly took the cloak off. She gripped it in her arm as she turned to look at her teammates.

* * *

><p>Japanese: English (just in case!)<p>

genin: low rank ninja

sensei: teacher

kunoichi: female ninja

shinobi: ninja


	4. Chapter 3

There really isn't much to say this time around. I'm trying to make my chapters at least 3,000 words long. It might take me a bit longer to make the chapters this long, but I promise not too give up the story until it's complete.

I hate it when people discontinue a story. It leaves me too much in suspense.

**REWRITTEN: AUGUST 12, 2014**

* * *

><p>The males' eyes widened as they took in the appearance of their fellow comrade's. The once male shinobi now dressed as a kunoichi.<p>

"Well?" Haruno asked arms crossed in front of her chest.

Naruto couldn't stop his jaw from dropping. Even the high and mighty Uchiha couldn't help the slack in his jaw. Kakashi was a bit more conspicuous in his amazement. The only way to tell of his current emotion was the widening of his eyes.

Haruno was dressed in a kimono shirt with long sleeves that covered her hands halfway and was a forest shade of green. Under the shirt she had a tank top mesh shirt that was slightly exposed by the V of the kimono shirt. She was also wearing a box pleated skirt that was black in color. A belt made of the same fabric of her skirt kept her kimono shirt tucked inside of her skirt. To keep things decent, she wore black shorts underneath her skirt. She had a scarf to cover the bottom half of her face, since girls wouldn't wear bandages to cover their faces. Her hair was left loose with her leaf headband secured in place on her forehead. She had gloves that went up to half of her upper arm and had a small plate of steel above the top of her hand. The only things that remained of her previous attire were her sandals and her weaponry. Her shuriken and kunai pouch were strapped to her belt to her left hip and wrapped to her right thigh, respectively.

All in all, she didn't look amazing, like that fabulous 'oh my goodness!' moment with the boys falling at her feet with declarations of marriage. Rather, in that outfit she looked so distinctly feminine that it was almost as if the boy was replaced. The boys of Team 7 believed that it was actually a female in their presence rather than the boy they were all used to seeing.

"H-ha-haruno, is that really you?" Naruto asked with a shaking finger raised toward his friend. A blush was clearly visible on him.

"Yeah...why?" Haruno asked, a hand on her hip. They didn't need to be rude.

The Uchiha tore his gaze from his teammate with a defiant, "hn." He was a boy for crying out loud! Who cared how cu-girly he looked. He growled in his head a small reddening tint was present on his face.

Kakashi noticed the blushing faces of his younger students and giggled mentally. Looks like the boys are more smitten with Haru-chan. Especially now that he's dressed as a girl. Was there a mission that could make them realize their feelings for the pinkette? Kakashi wondered. He wasn't sure….

Oh, wait! Kakashi mentally smacked his palm to his face. How could he forget! He had seen Haruno escort a beautiful, though much older woman to her home AND carrying heavy bags in his hands! Haruno was probably in love with the elder woman! After all, no man would willingly carry bags for a woman and endure so many hours of shopping they seemed to have without them having any sort of relationship! Geez! This created a serious hole in his NaruHaru and SasuHaru ships. Sigh, he didn't like this plot twist.

Wait! Try to set them Haruno with one of them up first! Kakashi coughed as he tried to re-collect his thoughts. "Well, it seems that you have image all taken care of Haruno."

Haruno regained her poker face,"Yes, thank you Kakashi-sensei."

"Now I want you to know that as long as we're in the village you are not required to wear female clothing all the time. The only times you will have to wear clothes like this is when we go take our first C-rank missions, where we are going to have to leave the village. We can not let anyone find out that you are a male otherwise the safety of the entire village will be compromised. Do I make myself clear Amarante?"

"Crystal, sensei." Haruno responded.

"Anyway, I'm giving you a test." Kakashi said.

"Man! Not another test! I thought we were ninja already!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, calm down. Besides it's simple. All you have to do is take a bell." Kakashi said as he dangled two bells in front of the genin. "The one who can't get a bell from me will be sent back to the academy."

The genin looked among themselves at the announcement. Two of them will continue to be ninja while the other will be sent back to the academy. They quickly determined their chances and turned to their sensei.

"Ready? Begin."

x

Kakashi sighed as the pink haired genin relished in 'his' victory. The pinkette jumped up and down in joy. Kakashi finally broke through the binds of the water and the water splashed harmlessly to the ground. He cleared his throat to get the other ninja's attention.

"Hmm?" the pinkette turned her head slightly back. Haruno raised an eyebrow at 'his' sensei.

Kakashi shook his hair to get rid of a few drops left in his hair. "Let's go find your teammates Haruno." He then went to find his other two students a smug Haruno trailing behind. He was going to have to remember not to underestimate the pink haired boy. Speaking of boys, the other two probably weren't going to like that he got the bells. This was going to cause a rift in their growing relationship, but this is a matter for a later time. First things first...

They ended up running into Naruto first. He was still upside down and judging by how red his face was, all the blood probably rushed into his head. Kakashi ended up throwing a kunai to the rope causing the hyperactive ninja to land right on his head. He squealed at the harsh blow and groaned in pain. As soon as the boy recovered from his blow, Kakashi gestured to the sky. The sun was directly overhead meaning that time had run out. Naruto grumbled before walking with his teammates.

Naruto's disappointment quickly dissipated once he saw Sasuke with only his head sticking out. Both Naruto and Haruno ended up letting huge bellows of laughter. Sasuke glared at them while Kakashi only shook his head at the disfunction of the team.

Kakashi sighed again as he watched Haruno sway with alacrity at his success with a small glare from Sasuke and a reluctant smile from Naruto. He could just feel the envy in the air. He turned his gaze towards the sky as he spoke.

Kakashi brushed his hair back only to have it hit his face again. "You all fail."

Gasps of shock and hurt/angry expressions formed on their faces. The genin were outraged.

"But Kakashi-sensei! I beat you and I managed to get a bell! Both of them actually." Haruno huffed angrily.

"That may be true Haruno, but you're missing the point of this test." Kakashi said, venom laced in his words.

"The point of this test?" It was the blond that asked the question, but all the genin had confused expressions on their faces.

"The whole point of this test was to teach all of you the meaning of teamwork." Kakashi explained.

"Oh..." Haruno trailed off, but then rebutted, "I wanted to work together, but they went in head first and attacked you alone!" Naruto seemed sheepish at the declaration while Sasuke only uttered a grunt and glared at her.

"Again, that may be so, but you also did nothing to help them get out of their traps and actually tell them of your plan to work together. In a real mission, you would come back successful and defeat your opponent, but it would cost your teammates their lives." Kakashi spoke with a slight discomfort in his tone.

Haruno turned her head and said nothing. She had an annoyed glare on her face. Kakashi took this as a pained agreement, so he continued with his task. "Wait here for me. I'll give you all a second chance. Oh, and Naruto-"

"Hmm?" the hyper blond turned his face towards his teacher.

"You get to be tied to the pole since you thought that taking a bell from the ground would have been the easiest way out of this test. And you won't be able to eat, either."

"Awww! But, sensei!"

"No buts, now if the rest of you feed him, I'll make sure you never become ninjas in your entire puny lives,'' He stated with a glare at the other two. He quickly transported to another location.

The raven and pastel haired genin grabbed the two lunch boxes and opened them to start eating the contents. Naruto's stomach growled furiously between the two followed by Naruto moaning in hunger. Their eyes ticked as the groans increased in volume. Naruto was about to let out another whine when he saw Haruno lift 'his' lunchbox up to him.

"Here."

"But, Haru! If I eat some of your lunch you'll get hungry and Kakashi-sensei will make you stop being a ninja!" Naruto cried out.

"For once the idiot is right. What are you thinking Amarante?" Sasuke asked Haruno, butting to the conversation. Haruno rolled her eyes.

"He's hungry and Kakashi-sensei did say that we have to work as a team, so here. I'm not that hungry anyway," Haruno assured.

"Are you sure you want to give this to me Haru?" Naruto asked, still wondering if his friend would betray the rules for him. Sasuke, though not even involved, payed attention to the discussion.

"Mmhmm!" Haruno said showing the two boys 'his' brightest smile. This caused a slight shade of red to coat both their cheeks, which worried Haruno.

"Hey are you two alright? You aren't getting sick are you?" Haruno said with a tilt of 'his' head.

"No, we're fine," the two boys said much to quietly. They didn't even look at their teammate, gazes glued to the ground.

"M'kay then, here you go Naruto," Haruno said as 'he' held his chopsticks up with some rice in them to feed Naruto, oblivious to the growing shade of red that the knucklehead was sporting or his meek expression as he took a bite from her chopsticks. Haruno was also oblivious to the narrowing pair of eyes that were held in their direction. A quiet scoff floated into the air before an additional pair of chopsticks clicked together.

* * *

><p>Sasuke wasn't particularly interested in many things, but the rose haired boy intrigues him. Previous to their joining in a team, he only heard bits and pieces of the odd boy. How the boy was polite and often ran errands for the villagers and spent his time reading in the library and out training with the idiot. All information gathered from the villagers.<p>

He had also heard of his kindness and princeliness from some of his fan girls. Of how amazing the boy was how great he was at everything and anything and no, it did not bruise his ego in any way. (A/N: Yes it did XP) Though he wondered if the boy also suffered thanks to the crazed girls.

When he heard of himself being paired up with the boy of his thoughts and the dead last, he was flabbergasted at not having a girl in his team, but later thought of it as being better for him since he wouldn't have to deal with a crazed fangirl and the guys, as annoying as they were, probably wouldn't slow him down too much. Well, at least pinky, the blond nuisance may be another story...

Imagine his surprise when he saw the boy wearing clothing meant for kunoichi. The first thought that ran through his head was 'are they sure he's really a guy?'. The boy was so dainty he was sure that the rosette had a twin sister standing in front of them in his stead, but once he spoke that idea went straight out the window. The insecure gaze of the pink haired boy and his met more than once, maybe they would-.

He blushed at the thought. They were both guys for kami's sake! Arg! He furiously shook his head mentally to derail any thoughts of his teammate. This was quickly resolved when the boy managed to snag the bells from Kakashi while he couldn't even land a hit on him. He was filled with wrath at the boy for taking his spotlight as protege. When Kakashi shot the boy down, he couldn't help the smug expression from his face. Yet, those annoying feelings came back when he saw Haruno feed Naruto. The idiot deserved not to eat for his stupid idea, but Haruno was still feeding him. As he tried to finish the remnants of his meal, he couldn't help, but wish that he was the one stuck to the pole and have Haruno feed him with- wait. WHAT! He could feel his face searing with heat. Keep it professional, Sasuke! Besides HE'S A GUY!

Then he could feel ominous clouds loom overhead and the distant crackle of lightning as it struck the ground. All of a sudden his sensei was standing in front of the team. Oh, great here it comes. If sensei asks, he wasn't involved with anything. After all, he did try to stop him.

"YOU" Kakashi roared.

"Me." Cocky move, Haruno. What are you planning?

"You!...You all pass." He smiled. Ugh, why couldn't he just-what?

"Huh?" the blond haired idiot asked.

"You all pass. Haruno you fed Naruto even though I told you not to, and I guess since Sasuke didn't try to stop you he also learned a thing or two about the values of teamwork," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck. All of them sported varied looks of happiness.

"Alright!" Naruto flailed in his tied position as Haruno smiled brightly. Sasuke smirked, completely ignoring Kakashi's jab. Of course they would pass. No one would-could hold back the great Uchiha.

* * *

><p>"Since you all pass, we'll all go on our first mission tomorrow. See ya," Kakashi said as he dissipated out of sight again.<p>

"Yeah! Naruto Uzumaki is now an official ninja! Believe it!" Naruto shouted double fist-ing the sky. He was jumping right of the trunks of the trees. "I gotta go tell Iruka-sensei!" The blond raced out of the clearing to find his old teacher and tell him the news.

"Hn," Sasuke smirked and walked away to no one knows where.

Haruno smiled happily at her success. She plucked her cloak off the ground and put it on. She too left the training field to go back to the library/bookstore and study up on her jutsu. As she opened the door to the small building, a bell chimed to alert others to her entrance. The receptionist turned her gaze to see the person entering.

"Ah, hello Haruno-kun. Hmm? Why are you dressed as a kunoichi?" the woman at the desk said noticing the clothing 'he' had under his long cloak. The lady had black hair that was cut to halfway down her back. Her eyes, however, were a vibrant shade of blue, like the crystal waters of the tropics. Right now those eyes were focused on Haruno.

"Ah, Keiko-san, how are you today?" Haruno asked.

"I am well, Haruno-kun. Thank you for your concern over such an eccentric person such as myself," Keiko laughed.

"Not at all Keiko-san," Haruno smiled. "As to the clothing, I was chosen to act as the kunoichi of my team full of male ninja."

"I see, since you are the one that appears the most feminine that role falls to you?" Keiko asked.

"So it would seem, Keiko-san. I apologize, but would like to get reading if I may, Keiko-san." He said bowing to the woman.

"You're always so polite, Haruno-kun. Please don't let me take any more of your time. Do go study." Keiko smiled.

"Thank you for your kind words Keiko-san," Haruno said as he bowed once again and walked towards the ninja section of the library. She strolled through the numerous bookshelves until she found the one that she was looking for: Ice and Snow Jutsu from the Village Hidden in the Snow. The book was found when some leaf nin dug through the rubble of a decimated part of the said village during a battle. Therefore, many shinobi had taken the book to study on the fighting style of the people hidden in the snow. Since the more elite shinobi had priority over any book relating to jutsu, the genin hardly had a chance to even see the cover of a book that taught jutsu. The book was constantly checked out of the library, it was by pure miracle that Haruno had even spotted the book. Haruno had an affinity for water. Ice and snow are two of the sub-elements included in the water element, along with clouds, steam, and plants. Some sub elements were easier to master than others, but ice and snow are the most common and easily manageable ones. She jovially took out the book and walked to the counter along with several other books about water jutsu to help her in her studies.

"Ah, finally had a chance to check out the book you wanted, huh, Haruno-kun?" Keiko smiled.

"Yes, thank you Keiko-san," Haruno agreed.

"Well, I hope it helps you in your studies," Keiko said.

"Thank you Keiko-san!" Haruno said as she ran out the door to go to her secluded training spot. As mentioned previously (See chapter 1), she managed to find the end of the river farther out from her hidden field in the middle of a forest. Said river ended at a waterfall.

So far, she's learned some handy jutsu like the water clones and orbs she used against Kakashi as well as being able to make weapons by solidifying water into ice. The weapons she can currently make out of the ice and water are kunai, and her personal favorite, senbon. She was practicing on making the shuriken, but the ends still end up being way too blunt. She was also starting to get the idea of making liquid water from the vapors in the air, but it was still a work in progress since she can only manage to get a few drops. The water dragon jutsu and plant manipulation jutsu near the end of the water jutsu books seemed really cool, but she just wasn't ready to conduct them yet. Her chakra reserves were much too small and she needed to know how to fully control water first.

Currently, Haruno was working on the walking on water deal. To be able to walk on water would be convenient for a water element user such as herself. This was going to require a lot of trial and error...

* * *

><p>After getting thoroughly soaked to the bone by falling into the river multiple times, Haruno successfully managed to walk all the way across the river. The only downside was that when she was about to fall into the river for the sixth time, she had ended up channeling chakra to her arms and made a wave big enough to land on her bag. Fortunately, her library books were safe thanks to her precautionary measure of placing the books on a higher tree branch than her bag.<p>

Haruno groaned at the thought of having to walk in the village dripping wet, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She placed her skirt and outer shirt into her bag leaving her with her mesh shirt and shorts. She trudged unhappily towards the end of the forest as she reapplied her soaking bandages to the bottom of her face. One reason for her unhappiness is obvious, her clothes were heavy and highly uncomfortable to be in. The bandages around her face made it harder to breathe. Also, it was starting to get cold. Her final reason was soon to make itself obvious...

"Ha-haruno-kun?!" and there it was.

Many of the younger population of females, and some males, squeaked or breathed in shock at the dripping shinobi-in-training. This gained the attention of a few of the passing people causing even more gasps to go off. The people began to gather in front of Haruno.

"Hey," Haruno said as she pushed her soaping bangs away from the front of her face and raised her gaze to the small crowd. The said crowd gasped and flushed red at Haruno's unintentional smoldering gaze. That and Haruno being totally drenched with the clothes sticking a bit more to her skin. The leanness of her body was more evident to her now higher growing group of fans. Faces were being fanned and fantasies swarmed in people's minds.

"I'm a bit wet as you can probably see," Haruno said addressing the crowd. "Sorry, but I need to go home to shower and change, goodbye," Haruno said as she walked to her house. Some of the more dirty minded people flushed a vibrant red and passed out while some swooned at Haruno's polite tone even as 'he' seemed quite irritated. The pinkette trudged on past the crowd.

"Bye Haruno-kun!"~~

The next day Haruno awoke to get dressed and eat before running to her team at their meeting grounds by the tiny river. They were going to go on their first mission as a team and she was really excited. Let's see where these next few days will lead her and her team!

* * *

><p>Ahh, the end of another chapter. I tried to make it slightly longer in compensation. Questions? Comments? Review and I shall try to answer.<p>

Japanese:English (just in case!)

genin: low-level ninja

sensei: teacher

jonin/jounin: high-level ninja

-chan: usually placed after a girl's name as a form of endearment

-kun: usually placed after a boy's name as a form of endearment

Amarante: random name; means 'flower that never dies' in Japanse of 'flower' in French

kunoichi: female ninja


	5. Chapter 4

Well, it's been quite a while since I've written and...oh, who am I kidding?! *throws her body to floor* I'm sorry! I beg for forgiveness after not writing for soooooo long! Gah! I feel evil...

Please accept my apology with the next chapter of 'Haku-nii?'...

I OWN NOTHING other than the plot and a few OC's...

**REWRITTEN: AUGUST 18, 2014**

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><p>Haruno never considered herself one to complain. Sure she had her run-ins with terrible situations in life (especially this fiasco with her being a male) and has dealt with them to the best of her abilities. She rarely, if at all, voice issues with whatever life threw at her, but here is where she draws the line.<p>

D-rank missions.

Seriously?! Haruno has dealt with crazy fan-mobs, jealous bullies, and harsh remarks. She even had an angry mob trying to end her life for close to no reason and it wasn't nearly as bad as this! Plucking weeds out of a garden? Walking dogs? Cleaning stuff? This is civilian work! Not work for professional-ninjas-to-be! They're nothing but chores! Ugh!The only good thing that has ever come out of these missions is that she gets paid and has time to hone her skills and learn new stuff! Which was a total moot point since she was already doing that in her free time!

That wasn't the worst part though. No, the worst part had to be that they sometimes ended up failing their missions. How? Easy. Naruto and Sasuke. Yes, those two idiots. And yes, she did call Sasuke and idiot, sue her. They were constantly baiting each other over who can do the mission better and were constantly making a mess of things.

Right now, they had 'finished' weeding the garden of a middle-aged woman who started ranting about how another one of the boys' competitions has caused Naruto to pluck the herbs along with the weeds of her garden. Kakashi once again had to apologize to the woman and placate her by having another mission placed for her for someone to replant her garden.

They were on to their other D-rank which was to recapture a cat they could have sworn they had barely caught and returned to the owner the previous day. Luckily, the cat was at its usual hiding spot making for another easy capture. Well, along with Naruto nearly getting his face ripped off. Thought that may have to do with the fact that she knew that cat hated Naruto. Also that cat absolutely adored Haruno. And perhaps she was annoyed with the cat when it tried to show its affection by rubbing against her legs, almost making her fall. And finally she may have perchance thrown the cat at Naruto, but, it's just a theory. They were reporting back to the Hokage to give the woman her cat back, instantly smothering it with her affection. The cat cried piteously in her grasp as they left. The genin were not too sympathetic to cat from their worst nightmares when the two disappeared.

Iruka, who was seated on the left side of the Hokage picked a sheet from the table and began to read off of it. "Alright, for your next mission you can babysit the Yamabuki twins or pick up groceries for the old lady at-"

"No! No more of this lame stuff! C'mon old man! Can't you give us a better mission? I want to go on a real mission!" Naruto whined at the grandfather figure.

"Naruto! Show more respect!" Iruka yelled at Naruto.

"Alright, I guess I can give you a harder mission. This one is a C-rank." The Hokage informed.

"Really? Finally! What is it are we escorting a princess! Or a nobleman? Or-" Naruto rambled, but was cut off.

"Please come in," the Hokage spoke to someone who was just opening the door to the room. It revealed a middle aged man who had gray hair, but unlike their sensei, this man's gray hair was due to his age. His glasses were teetering on the edge of his nose. He reeked of alcohol, the source being the sake bottle he carried in his hand.

"You will be escorting this man, Tazuna, to the village hidden in the waves." The Hokage said.

"What?" Tazuna slurred. "These kids are escorting me? If you ask me that shorty with the face is too stupid to do anything."

"Ha, shorty..." Naruto trailed off as he looked to his other two teammates. They both looked down at him. "Hey! I can so take you on old man! I'm a ninja now!" Naruto yelled after he realized what the man was saying.

"Naruto!" Haruno hissed at her teammate as she smacked the back of his head. He whined as the back of his head swelled with a bump.

"Oww, Haru, that hurt..."

"Er, anyway, " Iruka said getting their attentions again, " your team will leave tomorrow to reach the village as soon as possible. The mission should last you around a week, but an extension is doable."

"Dismissed" the Hokage finished.

They bowed at the Hokage before leaving the building. The genin eagerly left towards their apartments to pack for the trip.

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><p>Haruno never thought that Naruto's mouth would ever end with anything good, but here she was proven wrong as she got her supplies for her bag. She smiled ruefully as she shook her head. She'll have to thank her teammate later...maybe.<p>

Haruno had packed a change of clothes and two sleeping bags. She figured she should pack an extra for Tazuna or in case one of her teammates-Naruto-forgot to bring theirs. She put in a few snacks and some soldier pills that she got from Asami-san a as precaution. She also put in a medic kit that was significantly larger than one of the regular travel ones. She was more than a hundred percent sure that her team wasn't coming out of the trip unscathed. Whether the boys were stupid again or something goes wrong, she'll be ready. She had several weapons on the pockets of her pack and in the bags that would be strapped to her limbs, but since she could create weapons out of water, they weren't really a necessity. Well, unless they were headed to Sand, but if the name "Waves" meant anything, she assumed that there was a lot of water in the area.

Speaking of which, her training was really paying off. She was able to pull water out of the air if it was raining, foggy, or humid. It wasn't much, but even so she had more sources to draw water from than just ponds or rivers.

She placed her pack near the door and climbed into bed, awaiting the next day in which her first day as an official ninja would start.

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><p>As fate would have it, she woke up three hours early, at 5:00 in the morning. Truthfully, she thought that her sensei would be late as always and wouldn't be at the gates at 6:00 like he said. She estimated that he would arrive somewhere around 8 or 9.<p>

She got dressed and decided to make breakfast for her team. She guessed that the other two members of her team haven't yet learned that their sensei wasn't going to be on time for anything in his life. So, to spare their poor souls from starvation she was going to make a meal for them. As soon as she put the food in several lunch boxes, she wrapped them up and took her pack with her to her training field. Along with a few flowers for her brother. She chose peonies today.

She didn't want to get all sweaty before she left on her mission so she decided to practice her jutsu.

Her water weapon making was on key and could instantly turn a ball of water into any sort of throwing weapon. She could also make a decent sized wave which didn't really serve much of a purpose, but who knows, it might come in handy in this mission. She could also make whirlpools to drag down her enemies, but she most made less dangerous ones to entertain small children-they were so cute. They always giggled as the miniature whirlpool spun them around in the lake. Her pride, however, was her improvised water prison jutsu. Seeing as she couldn't really hold a large amount of water in the air for too long, she tweaked the jutsu a bit. Instead of waiting for her opponent to run out of oxygen, her modified jutsu holds them in the water orb and uses streams of water inside the orb to rush at them in an x-formation. Water would probably then get into their lungs before they were let go. An added bonus to the jutsu is that occasionally, the opponent gets disoriented and becomes confused. Her water shield is also impenetrable by any jutsu as long as it wasn't lightning type.

Her ice weapon making was also on key, the water would quickly harden into any shape. She could freeze spears in the air and have them rain down on the field. She was pretty good at freezing tiny bodies of water like a shallow pond or a miniature stream. She practically killed herself to learn the jutsu that allowed her to make wolves out of snow. Three months of non stop meditation and other chakra expansion exercises. They were smaller than the average sized wolf and it was only a pack of three. She brushed it off, after all it was a pack and people have to start somewhere. The good thing was that when she makes a pack the wolves were always obedient and quickly establish her as the alpha of their pack and always followed her commands. Hopefully with more training, she could get them into average size or create a pack of 5 or 6. She was also toying with the idea of making snow foxes in reference to her whiskered best friend.

After training for two long hours, she improved slightly in her jutsu and was able to hold her water orb longer as well as make another member to the pack. She finished her last hour by going to see Keiko-san, Asami-san and the friendly merchants before walking towards the front gates to the village.

"Here we go."

Haruno ran up to her younger teammates. Naruto waving his arm around like an idiot, while Sasuke glanced at her before quickly turning his head away with a "hn".

"Morning." Haruno said.

"Good morning Haru!" Naruto yelled. "Can you believe we're going on our first ninja mission outside of the village today!" He yelled out slowly. Haruno figured that Naruto wanted to boast it to the whole village. With his voice the village probably heard every word and were quickly telling others about it.

"How long were you guys here?" Haruno asked.

"Ever since sensei told us to be here!" Naruto ranted. "He said to be here at six and he's not even here! It's almost nine!"

"Hm, figures. I was right again." Haruno muttered under her breath. A poof went off behind her to reveal her sensei and their ward who seemed a bit sick.

"Yo"

"Yo? Don't 'yo' us! You're late again!" Naruto yelled.

"Sorry, I was showing Tazuna around the village." Kakashi said falsely apologetic.

"Whatever." Naruto crossed his arms and turned away from his sensei.

"I assume you are all ready to go?" Kakashi asked. The three genin affirmed his question. "Alright, let's-" the ground beneath them began to shake cutting off Kakashi.

"What's going on?" Tazuna.

"Is it an earthquake?" Naruto.

"No. I've seen this only two other times. This is a lot worse than an earthquake." Kakashi spoke.

Sasuke and Haruno gulped. Was this really-? They think they knew what their sensei was talking about and it isn't going to end well.

"C'mon Kakashi-sensei what is it? You're making me nervous." Naruto spoke quietly for once.

"It's-"

"KYAAAAAAAAAA!"

"A fan mob!" Kakashi answered, his visible eye widened in size. The genin flinched in shock, their mouths gaping in horror. Not that! Anything but that!

"RUN!" Naruto cried.

"No, it's too late for that!" Kakashi sighed.

"NOOOOOO!"

"SASUKE-KUN! HARUNO-KUN! KAKASHI-SAN!" Various aged females along with a few males were running straight for them. At this rate, they weren't going to survive.

Kakashi looked to the ground in defeat before turning to his team. "Gentlemen," he said, "It was an honor serving with you guys, but it appears that our end is near."

"NOOO! SENSEI!" Naruto and Haruno cried. Sasuke just stared at him in morbid shock.

"Brace yourselves." Kakashi cringed.

The others squeezed their eyes shut waiting for the onslaught.

"KYAAAAA!"

Naruto was battered by hundreds of bodies trying to get to his teammates before being trampled and finally thrown out of the masses. He was bruised and bloody and knocked unconscious.

Tazuna, who was a foreigner, wasn't as beat up as Naruto was. The mob mainly pushed him around until he too was out of the crowd.

Kakashi was surrounded by women and a few men between their 20's up to their 40's. Many wished him luck in his team's first mission. He was given many gifts. Others asked of his new team and how he was handling them. Most asked for a date when he would come back which Kakashi rejected all in a placating manner.

Sasuke was bombarded by the academy school girls. There were a girls up to their late teens and early twenties. He was constantly asked for a date when he would return. They showered him with gifts and means of affection. He was drowning among the hugs. He rudely dismissed the girls and ripped them off of him. The girls eventually turned against each other for his attention and Sasuke was left in the middle. Several girls ran over to Naruto to warn him of his impending doom if anything were to happen to his Sasuke before running of to the Haruno crowd to do the same.

Haruno was probably in the most odd situation. Instead of being hit head on by the crowd the crowd stopped a few feet away and uttered a synchronized hello, which Haruno politely returned. The younger girls swooned before flushing a dark shade of red. Haruno also noticed that there were some villagers who she didn't get to bid farewell to. She received many gifts and anticipatory goodbyes. She returned a few hugs and handshakes causing many of the people to pass out in joy. She also noticed that some of Sasuke's fan girls came to bid him a goodbye as well. Instead of harsh threats as they were planning to give out, they became instantly charmed by his politeness and kindness and wished him good luck on 'his' travels. He was then quickly asked on dates which he politely refused, the girls didn't hold it against 'him' and figured they'd try again on a later date.

The ragged team joined together again. Naruto groaning in pain while he rubbed a sore spot on his arm. Tazuna just stared at the dissipating crowd in awe. Kakashi had his hands filled with gifts as he laughed nervously. Sasuke glared in anger as he threw the gifts he was given on the floor, glaring at them like they would burn with one look. Haruno, the most calm one, placed her rather large pile of gifts on the floor before letting her hair out of its tie and letting her hair float free. She was rummaging through it and taking out three sealing scrolls, which she used one to place her gifts in. She handed the other two to Kakashi and Sasuke, the former in thanks and the later sighed slightly before thanking her.

"Well, that was quite a goodbye party, huh?" Kakashi spoke. Haruno took a skirt out of her bag and tied it on.

"NO! IT WAS NOT!" Naruto screamed. "I got beaten up by a bunch of girls because they didn't want their wimpy Sasu-kay to get hurt because of me! If Sasuke gets hurt it's his own dang fault! Besides you all get gifts and no one even gave me one!" he moped.

"Naruto be quiet. It's too early to deal with you." Kiba said as his team and team 10 came to see them off. The blond haired female of team 10 ran to Sasuke before latching on to his arm and squealing, while Sasuke tried to get her off of him. The blue haired girl of team 8 walked slowly up to Naruto.

"Um, uh, Naruto-kun I ,uh, made this for you!" Hinata squeaked as she handed Naruto a gift.

"Wow! Thanks Hinata!" He grinned at the shy girl who flushed a deep red.

"Y-you're we-welcome. I ha-have something for you too, um, Haruno-chan." She said handing another gift to Haruno.

"Thank you Hinata-san." Hinata nodded as her face grew even redder and looked to the ground.

"Atta girl Hinata. Taking your first step already." Kiba said wrapping his arm around his teammate who was ready to pass out from how red she was. Just then, Naruto's stomach growled.

"You didn't eat, huh, Naruto." Shikamaru stated before looking back at the clouds.

"No. Dang it! I'm hungry! Hey Choji! Give me some of your chips!"

"No way! It's not my fault you didn't eat!"

"C'mon! I'm gonna die! Of hunger!" Naruto cried.

"Here Naruto." Haruno handed him a lunch.

"Haru..." Naruto trailed off with tears in his eyes.

"I made it myself," Haruno smiled underneath her scarf, her voice muffled. "I thought you'd be hungry since you probably woke up 'late' and didn't eat anything." She said with a pointed look at their sensei. Who sweat underneath the scrutiny of her gaze.

"Thanks Haru! You're the best!" Naruto said before jumping his best friend in a hug before letting go and opening the lunch. The other teams, except for Ino who was still clinging to Sasuke, surrounded Naruto eagerly waiting to see what was under the lid. Different food items were inside the box.

"Wow! That looks amazing!"

"It appears to be well made."

"It smells delicious~."

"Hey! Give me a piece!" They began to pluck pieces from Naruto's lunch all of them sighing at the taste.

"Hey! It's my lunch!"

"It's so good~!"

"It's delicious."

"We should get Haruno to cook for us!"

Haruno turned to her other teammates. Sasuke, Tazuna, and Kakashi looked up at her.

"Here. I made lunch for all of you as well. You too, Tazuna-san." She said handing them a lunch.

"Thanks, kid." Tazuna said as he took one.

"No thanks, Haruno. I ate well this morning, but thank you anyway." Kakashi said before ruffling the pinkette's hair.

"Here Sasuke." She said handing the last box to Sasuke.

Before Sasuke could reach the box and thank his teammate, Ino took the lunchbox and tossed it aside. The newly made genin gasped as they followed the lunch , nothing fell out as the lid was still intact on the box. The genin sighed in relief and then went to pick up the discarded lunch to eat its contents.

"Hey! Who do you think you are trying to give a lunch to my Sasuke, huh, pinky?" Ino said with a glare.

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><p>Japanese:English (just in case!)<p>

kunoichi: female ninja

-kun: suffix used as a form of endearment usually placed at the end of a boy's name

Asami: means morning beauty

-san: suffix used to show respect like a Ms. Mrs. or Mr.

Amarante: means flower that never dies in Japanese or just flower in French


	6. Chapter 5

Yay! I'm being responsible for once, haha...no, not really...oh, I also changed a few tid-bits on the story description.

Either way please enjoy this chapter of 'Haku-nii?' Also, feel free to ask questions or give suggestions. This story can only be improved through the input of the readers.

**REWRITTEN: AUGUST 21, 2014**

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><p>"Ah, Yamanaka-san. How are you today?" Haruno asked politely.<p>

"Fine. Now answer my question, pinky." Ino said, not getting rid of her glare.

"Hey Ino, back off. Haru is totally polite to you, stop being so irritating." Kiba growled.

"Stay out of it dog boy!" Ino yelled back.

"Leave Haru alone!" Naruto.

"Um, Yamanaka-san, uh, please do-don't hurt Haru-chan." Hinata.

"Ino." Shikamaru.

"C'mon Ino just leave her alone." Choji.

"Yamanaka-san. I would advise you to think twice about this." Shino.

"Will you all stay out of this!" Ino yelled at her previous classmates and turned back to Haruno. "Well, pinky? You gonna answer or what?" Ino sneered at the pinkette.

Sasuke tore Ino's grip from his arm. "Don't talk to her like that. You're annoying." He said with a freezing glare.

"But, Sasuke I-" Ino whined, tears glistened in her eyes. She huffed and turned to Haruno. "I bet you enjoy watching me seem like the bad guy here, huh? Well, just know this! Sasuke doesn't have time for pink haired weirdos like you! He's gonna end up loving me! Got that!"

Haruno blinked and started to laugh. A few others laughed too. "Hey! What's so funny!"

Haruno wiped the tears that started to run down her eyes. "Ah, hah, ha~. I-" Haruno tried to hold in her giggles. "I thought that everyone knew? I guess you didn't listen to Hinata-san." Haruno chuckled.

"What?!" Ino demanded. "Tell me!"

Just as Haruno was about to reply to her inquiry, who should appear than the two closest females in Haruno's life- Asami and Keiko. The other genin just stared at the two women who approached Haruno. Choji and Naruto were gaping. Kiba let out a soft whistle. Hinata's face fell slightly. Shikamaru's and Sasuke's brows rose. Shino wasn't interested. Ino felt shuffled and glanced at Sasuke, feeling insecure next to the two beautiful looking women.

Keiko huffed.

"Ah, guess we made it in time, huh, Asa-chan?" Keiko mockingly let out a breath of relief. Asami could only roll her eyes at the other woman. She turned her attention to the pinkette.

"So Haru-kun, how come you didn't tell us you were leaving today?" Asami said with her hands on her hips.

Haruno rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Ah, you see...I received this mission shortly and was so occupied with making sure that my abilities were honed and that I was carrying everything with me that I sort of, maybe, ended up forgetting to tell the both of you." 'He' ended with a bit of nervous laughter.

Asami glared at Haruno. This time it was Keiko's turn to roll her eyes at the blond. "Oh, give the poor boy a break Asa-chan. He didn't mean not to tell us right, Haruno?" Keiko said nonchalantly, though there was a hidden threat in her words if he disagreed.

Haruno nodded his head vigorously. "Uh-huh! Keiko-san's right!"

"See nothing to worry about Asa," Keiko said as she wrapped an arm around the shoulder of the blond. Said blond only sighed.

"Fine, but you better tell us next time Haru! I mean it!" Again Haruno nodded. Asami only used that tone when she was threatening someone.

"Hey! Who are you two and how do you know Haru?" Naruto asked.

"I'm curious to know that too," Kakashi said, appearing out of nowhere with Team 7's ward.

"_AND_ why are you butting in to our conversation?" Ino haughtily spoke. The two women turned to glare at the younger blond who gulped in fear. They then turned to the boy with softer expressions.

"Ah, I am Asami Saya and I work at a kunoichi store that Haruno-kun helps out at!" She said with a smile.

"I'm Keiko Hagane and I work at the library and Haru-kun here is a total bookworm." Keiko said giggling.

"Huh? Haruno-kun? I don't see him here!" Ino said. Keiko and Asami looked at her with stupefied expressions. Ino only rose an eyebrow at them. Both women turned to look at the other people present who seemed to shrug their shoulders. Asami and Keiko turned to look at each other with surprised expressions before they turned into ones that looked like they ate something foul. The women mentioned sighed. Finally, Haruno walked closer towards the irate blond.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yeah! Some pink-haired girl who thinks she has a chance with my Sasuke!" Ino raged.

Haruno let out a laugh. "Yamanaka-san, I am not a girl."

Ino looked shocked. "What?"

"I am Haruno Amarante." Ino looked shocked and finally noticed the similarities between what she thought was a girl and Haruno-kun from the academy days. The others thought how easily the boy from the academy that they were looking at was able to deceive others about his gender. He looked so much like a new pink haired girl.

"Haruno-kun, but Sasuke-kun said 'her'..."

"Ah, about that," Haruno said while rubbing the back of her head. "See there was supposed to be a girl in our group right? Well, I look the girliest so that makes me the pretend kunoichi of this team. The boys are trying to get used to thinking of me as a girl, which was why he called me 'her'." Haruno smiled.

"AH! I'M SO SORRY HARUNO-KUN!" Ino threw herself to the ground asking for forgiveness.

"Eh?!" Haruno was startled by her actions and jumped a bit. "It-it's alright Yamanaka-san."

"You should let her suffer a bit Haru-kun," Keiko laughed evily. Asami looked at Haruno pleadingly.

"I'm not mean Asami-san. I'm not going to make Yamanaka-"

"No! It's Ino-chan!" Ino pouted at Haruno.

"Eh? Er, right ah, Ino-chan suffer."

"Yay!" Ino latched on to Haruno's arm. "You called me Ino-chan!" The blond squealed in happiness as she gripped tightly onto the 'male'. Seeing as how Haruno was starting to lose the blood flow to his arm, Ino's teammates, Asami, Keiko, and Naruto tried to pry the blond off of Haruno. After a huge struggle, the boy was finally free. Ino pouted, but then went on to harass the last Uchiha.

"Well, well," Keiko drawled as she poked Haruno in the face,"looks like this one is a girl magnet." Keiko looked up to see the platinum blond turn in their direction to listen, even as she was talking the last Uchiha's ear off. And if she turned her gaze slightly, she could see that the heiress also seemed interested in what she had to say.

"Keiko-chan stop teasing him," Asami scolded.

"Yes, please stop teasing me for your amusement Keiko-san," Haruno deadpanned.

"Let's see, the manners, honorifics, and that cute face of yours must be three huge factors to your attractiveness to all these girls." Keiko said as she looked at Haruno. Ino nodded in approval. Hinata fidgeted and a small blush appeared on her face. Keiko gripped her chin and hummed. "You're also a ninja and have some muscle, so there are some more bonus points. I bet lots of girls wonder what's under those clothes" She said as she made a circle around the pink haired ninja. She smirked as she began to tug the shirt off of the pinkette, which cause Haruno to flush red in turn. Ino was nosebleeding and squealed. Hinata looked ready to pass out with how red she was.

"Keiko-san!/-chan!" Haruno and Asami yelled.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop." Keiko held her hands out in a surrendering position, letting the shirt fall back in place.

"There is some crazy stuff going on," Tazuna said as he watched the genin and women interact.

"Mmhmm," Kakashi said before turning another page to his little orange book. They could leave to do their mission right now, but there are still a few questions on his mind about the two women and his little pink haired genin.

And, as if someone heard his thoughts, a voice asked, "Are you together with one of these women Haruno?"

"What?!" Ino and Keiko sputtered. Hinata gasped.

Asami and Haruno turned bright red. 'Those two-!' Kakshi's gaze narrowed on the two green eyed people.

"No way! Haru you're with this lady?!" Apparently, even Naruto noticed the impliation.

"No!" both yelled in denial.

"If not her then you're with Keiko!" Kiba yelled. Keiko and Haruno both yelled out their negative responses.

"The three of us are like siblings!" Asami, Keiko, and Haruno yelled out.

"Oh, okay, phew~" Naruto breathed.

It would seem that Haruno was still up for grabs. NaruHaru and SasuHaru are still sailing. It would also seem that HaruAsa and HaruKei are on port, since those two ships could set sail at any moment. Yet, Kakashi wouldn't let it happen, as long as he was still standing! Having his questions answered Kakashi got his priorities straight. He looked up to his team. "Alright you three, it's time to head on out."

"Right! We're coming sensei!" The pink and yellow haired genin said their goodbyes to their friends while Sasuke tried to peel a sobbing Ino from his torso. They all laughed except for Ino, Sasuke, Shino, and Shikamaru. Haruno, Keiko, and Asami shared a three way hug (along with a few 'ooh~s' for embarrassment purposes before the three teammates ran off to their sensei's side.

The group of 'males' was walking down an open path that lead to the outskirts of the Fire Country. Currently, Sasuke and Naruto were throwing insults at each other in another one of their about-to-get-physical verbal fights. The bridge builder Tazuna was in between the ninjas, steadily taking sips out of his sake bottle, trying to make it last the trip. Haruno was behind the group along with Kakashi. Haruno was kicking her feet in the ground while Kakashi was reading his favorite little orange book.

Suddenly, Haruno tensed. Something didn't feel right. She warily threw glances at her teammates and ward, but the odd sensation did not come from them. She then gazed cautiously at the trees, but those weren't it either. She tilted her head back ever so slightly as to not get noticed if anything were above them, but there was nothing in the air. That left only one thing. The ground. She scanned the path. Ah-there! There was a puddle near the edge of the path! That was odd since there hasn't been any form of precipitation in the Fire Region for months.

Haruno looked discreetly at her sensei how sensed her gaze and turned to her with a knowing look.

'Hm, so he noticed as well,' Haruno thought as Kakashi turned back to his book.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei..." Haruno trailed off.

"Yes, Amarante?"

"How much longer?" Haruno posed her question to seem almost ignorant of the situation, yet her sentence was perfectly worded so Kakashi could know what she was _really_ asking.

"Not long." Her sensei responded, his shoulders slackened more.

"Okay," Haruno resumed her previous actions, kicking more dust in the air as to not seem suspicious.

True to her sensei's warning, two mist ninja jumped out of the tiny puddle. They simultaneously took out their chains, which were made out of welded together shiruken. Haruno gasped in false shock as the chains ensnared her sensei. A scream of "Kakashi-sensei!" resounded on the path before tearing Kakashi was torn to shreds. Blood smeared the ground along with her clothes as she was standing close to Kakashi. She could see the shocked looks on the rest of the group.

"Kid!" Tazuna's yell got Haruno's attention as she jumped up to avoid getting snared by the chains herself. After standing on the ground again, she took a fighting stance halfway between her team and the enemy nninja. She then drew a kunai from the pouch at her thigh.

"Protect Tazuna!" Haruno yelled at her teammates. She never turned her gaze from the two nin standing in front of her.

"Well," one of the two mist ninja spoke. "Seems like the girl's the brave one of this little genin squad. What are you gonna do now without your sensei to protect you? Huh, boys? Are you gonna hide behind a girl now?" The two laughed. The two male genin were numb and didn't react to the taunts of the ninja making them glare.

"Not much to say? Well, I say we take you two out first!" The other nin yelled as he and his partner threw kunai at the immobilized duo with a trembling Tazuna. Haruno sped in front of the kunai and deflected them with her own. Discarded kunai clinked as they hit the ground.

"Sasuke! Naruto! Move! We need to protect the client!" she yelled back at them. She jumped sideways and threw shiruken at the mist ninja, who took out their chains to block the hits.

"Hn. That girl's a pest. You're dying first!" The ninja leapt towards Haruno as she jumped further away from her team.

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><p>Sasuke and Naruto were frozen in shock at seeing their sensei get torn to pieces. Kakashi's blood drenched Sakura as her clothes became soaked with the crimson liquid. Both of the boys were experiencing different horrors.<p>

Sasuke was paralyzed and shaking on the inside. The blood covering Haruno made him fall into a memory lapse, where the bright crimson was tainting every building of the district. Tears streaming down his eight-year-old face. His family crest unintelligible...father...mother...

Naruto couldn't believe his sensei just died in front of him. This was the first time he had ever seen someone's life be taken from them in one sudden, killing action. He couldn't make out what Haruno was saying...what is it?...

* * *

><p>Haruno dodged another swing of the ninja's chain that tore forward and came back like a whip. His partner's claw nearly tore her to pieces if she hadn't ducked in time.<p>

She took a quick glance at her team, but they were still staring ahead, gone for the moment. Both faces morbid in shock. They weren't going to be able to assist her any time soon. Kakashi wouldn't be helping either. She was on her own for now. She rolled on the ground away from another chain and jumped into a semi-back flip as she avoided another onslaught of kunai. She flinched as one cut her cheek and another cut her arm.

'I'm starting to slow down...I won't be able to take much of this...' Haruno assessed, concerned. She dodged a few more hits before straightening back into her fighting pose, panting heavily. The end of a chain created a small cut on her eyebrow causing the blood to trickle down her face. Her eye was shut to prevent the blood from going into her eye. She was able to land a few cuts on the two, but nothing serious enough to give her an advantage. The mist ninja smirked at her tired state before continuing their assault. Her muscles were screaming at her to stop, stretching her injuries as blood oozed more freely down her numerous cuts, but to give up would cause her to forfeit the lives of both herself and what was left of her team along with their mission.

It didn't really help that she was trying to stop them from hurting her teammates at the same time. Weaving back in forth between the path was exhausting. The nin also tried to separate her from the frozen males. She used some of what little chakra she had to spare to create a second clone to assist her. When the clone vanished from existence, Haruno quickly made a new one to help her gain the middle line with her opponents. At first the ninja smirked at the thought of the girl having fight in her, however, those feelings soon soured. The opposing ninja only grew more angered as the fight dragged on. Their hits were starting to turn from several painful cuts to one-hit K.O.s, to death hits.

Finally, her recent clone gave out. Haruno no longer had any chakra to maintain a clone, much less create a new one. The worst part was that she was caught away from her team, whom still weren't moving, with the two mist ninja in between. Also, her vision was fading around the edges due to strain and she was starved of oxygen.

The mist ninja looked at the exhausted female, to her teammates, and then back to her. They both grinned and Haruno gasped. The razor-sharp claws of the chain like arms flexed before lauching off at the blond and ravenette.

"No!" Haruno jumped into the air.

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><p>Japanese:English (just in case!)<p>

shinobi: ninja usually male

kunoichi: female ninja

kunai: ninja weapon; a blade that is pointed at the end in a diamond shape with a handle ending with a rounded tip with a hole in the center

shiruken: ninja weapon; a four tipped star with sharpened tips and holes in their center that are thrown at opponents

-sensei: teacher

genin: low ranked ninja

-chan: a form of endearment usually placed at the end of a girl's name

-kun: a form of endearment usually placed at the end of a boy's name


	7. Omake 1

Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! They mean the world to me! :)

Please enjoy the next installment of 'Haku-nii?'.

**OMAKE NEW!**

Note: Omakes do not always meet the minimum word requirement of the main plot.

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><p>Hinata was always a shy little girl even before she enrolled in the academy. She often hid behind her father whenever they left the compound which caused him to scoff at her and push her away from him to "act more like a dignified Hyuuga member should".<p>

Hinata's chronic shyness made her find Naruto's outgoing personality charming. She easily fell for the blond haired boy. He just made everything absolutely frightening seem almost like nothing to be afraid of. He was never afraid of the people that teased or bullied him. In fact, most of the time the boy spent his time in detention for giving a good wallop to the boys and making the girls cry. Which was a lot more than could be said for her. She couldn't even talk back to all the members of the clan who scoffed at her and when she was in her room she cried silently about all their comments about her being too weak to be heiress.

It was being in a similar situation which caused her to meet up with Haruno. Her father finally allowed her to leave the Hyuuga grounds, but as to escort her fellow clan members to the market. She was to go with her two cousins. Hinata was in the academy, which her cousins weren't, so she was supposed to protect her cousins while they were out to go get groceries.

Hinata didn't like her cousins-at all. Himeko and Kimiko, her cousins, were twins. Hinata could never fathom how her sweet aunt could give birth to these monstrosities-though she'd never say it out loud. The two were the gossip queens of the clan. If any rumor was created, they were the first to find out and let everyone know. They both wore makeup despite being a few months younger than Hinata. They also sneered at the pitiful Hyuuga who was a terrible kunoichi, at least according to them. They always spoke badly about Hinata and many of their younger relatives, yet in front of the adults they always acted like angels.

Back to the problem at hand. Hinata was miserably walking behind her two cousins as the two began to chatter about new nail polish they had received and who was the most attractive boy in the clan right now. It seems like it was Neji since his name kept popping up between the two amidst girlish squeals. The two then turned to their elder cousin and began to scoff at her before turning back to their conversation.

Finally, finally, Hinata thanked Kami, they reached the market place. She was given the role as pack mule by the two demonesses as they bought all kinds of food. When the groceries were complete, Hinata mentally sighed. They should have headed back home, yet when the girls saw that they had a few bills left over they grinned evilly.

The twins decided to go on all paid expense shopping trip. They looked through all kinds of dresses and kimonos, yukatas and skirts. The clothes that they bought seemed a bit too revealing to the heiress, but she was too afraid to say anything. They visited jewelry vendors and bought some dango. They then took a break to sit on one of the benches by the marketplace. Hinata sighed in relief. The two rolled their eyes, before Himeko struck a conversation with her sister about the most attractive boy outside of the clan. Hinata silently gasped. It was unheard of that any member of the Hyuuga family, much less close members of the main branch family to ever be allowed to be with a member not part of the clan. Even to speak of it was taboo, yet here the twins were blabbing about the boys of the village.

Hinata was about to drown in her thoughts, when the high pitched squeal of Kimiko snapped her out of it. She eagerly tugged on the hem of Himeko's sleeve and pointed at the distance which caused her sister to make an equally loud squeal. The two began to speak so rapidly and excitedly that Hinata couldn't keep up with them. The only thing she could make out was 'Haruno-kun' since the name was always coming out of one or the other's mouth. They then turned to Hinata which caused her to flinch.

"Our dear cousin Hinata," Himeko spoke with a soft voice. Hinata knew nothing good would come out of the twins' mouths now.

"We need you to make us look good in front of Haruno-kun!" Kimiko spoke eagerly getting really close to her cousin's face.

"Uh-um, a-ah, w-what do you two n-need m-me to do?" Hinata stuttered.

"You are going to make yourself trip, it shouldn't be too hard for you," Kimeko said. Hinata paled.

"But don't worry, we are going to help you up so Haruno-kun can see how such pretty girls are also kind enough to help a pathetic girl such as yourself." Himeko said gracefully.

"Honestly, you should be glad we would want to help you Hinata. So are you going to do it?" Kimiko said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. Hinata nodded hesitantly. The girls grinned.

"But first-!"Himeko spoke. Her two companions turned to her as she smiled up at her sister,"We need to put on one of those clothes we bought!" Kimiko smiled too as she and her sister picked through the bags to find the perfect thing too wear. After doing so, the two ran off to the bathroom to change. They also took their newly bought makeup cases with them. When the two girls came out, Hinata couldn't help, but feel the stab to her chest. The two looked so beautiful….

Himeko and Kimiko grabbed one of Hinata's arm each and dragged her to the place they knew Haruno would pass by on his way to train. The two let out a few nervous squeals before turning to look at Hinata. Their dark looks scared the shy girl.

"You better not mess this up for us Hinata," Himeko spoke.

"If you don't trip, we swear we will make you." Kimiko uttered.

Hinata nodded frantically and the twins wore bright smiles and pushed Hinata in front of them. Hinata, still carrying the bags, struggled on ahead as the two chatted behind her.

As they turned the corner, the twins began to squeal and point at a head of pink hair in the distance. They quickly, however, calmed themselves down and took out a fan each to hide their faces as they walked. The two had stares directed at them. Hinata sighed, she truly felt like an ugly little duckling with those two prideful and greedy swans.

Hinata could see the boy as he left the shop at the other end, waving to the shop keeper. He had a package of dango in one hand as he was walking closer to them. He was stopped by a group of young children. The adorable four to six-year-olds crowded the boy and he gave each of them a few pieces of candy each.

Hinata had an awed expression on her face. She couldn't help the soft flush on her cheeks. The boy was just so kind. Her thoughts were stopped by a tap on her back. She turned back to the twins, both of them rose an elegant eyebrow and gestured at the ground. Hinata suddenly remembered that she was supposed to trip before the pink haired boy. She bit her lip, she didn't want the kind boy to start teasing her as well, but she didn't want to face the wrath of the twins.

It seems Hinata took too long to decide because all of a sudden she felt a foot trip her and all of the things she was carrying topled to floor along with her. Hinata could feel the tears begin to pool in her eyes. She wasn't hurt, but she fell right in front of the boy. She could barely make out the fake coos of her cousins as they pretended to assist her.

"Are you alright?" she heard a voice say.

When Hinata looked up, she saw the boy with the pink hair stare down at her in pity. She looked away, surely he thought she was incompetent. Suddenly, the twins rose and blocked his view of the heiress.

"Ah, Haruno-kun! How nice to see you!" Himeko spoke as she clung to his arm.

"Yes! It's a pleasure!" Kimiko said as she grabbed his other arm.

"Ah, excuse me, but who are you two?" Haruno spoke. Hinata was about to cry, the boy had wonderful manners even when speaking to demons such as those two.

"Oh! A thousand apologies Haruno-kun," Himeko spoke as she coyly hid her face behind her fan. "My name is Himeko Hyuuga, but you may call me Himeko-sama if you so wish."

"I would like to offer my apologies as well Haruno-kun," Kimiko mimicked her sister. "My name is Kimiko Hyuuga, but you may call me Kimiko-sama, if that is your preference."

"Ah, the Royal Hyuuga twins, correct? It is an honor being in the presence of the both of you," Haruno said. The twins blushed beautifully and had tiny shy-like smiles on their faces. Hinata could sense the smugness coming out of them in waves.

"We suppose it is," Himeko and Kimiko haughtily spoke. "It is also wonderful to make your acquaintance Haruno Amarante, the boy from snow." Haruno laughed softly, which caused all three girls to turn red. As the two girls swooned off, they ended up revealing the meek Hyuuga still on the ground. Haruno walked up to her.

"Do you need help?" Haruno asked as he reached a hand down at the dumbfounded girl. Hinata hesitantly took his arm. Hinata couldn't look at him, much less answer him.

"That's a lot of things you were carrying. Here, let me help," Haruno said as he took some of the bags from her. Hinata was about to oppose when Haruno smiled. "It's alright. I have nothing else to do at the moment." Hinata shyly nodded as she took the rest of the lighter bags.

Haruno turned to the twins, "Hime-san, Kimi-san, if you could please direct us back?"

The twins then gestured to the two to follow them as the made their way back to the compound. Haruno, as he was not a Hyuuga, was not allowed to go into the compound. Hinata and Haruno both gave their large amount of items to some guards in front. They asked for the group to wait outside. The twins fawned at Haruno, while Hinata awkwardly stood aside. Finally, the two guards returned to their posts and urged the three girls back inside.

"Ah, wait!" Haruno said. Himeko and Kimiko turned their heads back so fast, Hinata was sure they got whiplash.

"Yes?" Both asked eagerly.

But Haruno did not look to either twin. Rather he was looking at Hinata. Hinata flushed as she made eye contact with his viridian eyes.

"I never got your name." He smiled at the shy girl.

"O-o-oh." Hinata stuttered severely. "M-my n-name is Hyu-Hyuuga. Um, Hi-Hinata Hyuuga. I-I am the heir-heiress to the Hyuuga c-clan." Hinata wasn't sure why she added that last sentence to the introduction. She guessed she wanted Haruno to know a little bit more about her….

"It's an honor and a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Hinata-sama." Haruno said as he grasped her hand. Hinata flushed at the warm feel of his hand in hers. She turned a bright red as she looked into his smiling face. He then closed his eyes to place a small kiss upon her hand.

Hinata hyperventilated. The twins let out screams of outrage. The boy merely sent all of them a smile with a short wave and turned back to walk back into the village.

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><p>How do you guys like it? It's cute isn't it. ;)<p>

Japanese: English

Himeko: means ''princess child''

Kimiko: means "empress child"

-san: an honorific like Mr. Mrs. or Ms.

-sama: a higher honorific than "-san"

-kun: a form of endearment usually put at the end of a boy's name

Kami: God

kunoichi: female ninja


	8. Chapter 6

Thanks for continuing to read this story and in doing so, I bring you the next part of the long anticipated fanfiction "Haku-nii?"...

I think that I should mention that in my fanfiction, the mist ninja don't poison their weapons.

Enjoy!

**REWRITTEN: SEPTEMBER 1, 2014**

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><p>Haruno managed to deviate the path of the chains by jumping in front of them and throwing several kunai. However, they didn't stray too far and managed to cut Haruno, leaving gashes in her right calf and the left side of her torso.<strong><br>**

"Gya!" Haruno couldn't help the yelp as she now harbored two more serious injuries on her person. She stumbled slightly as she sped forward and tried to land one more hit, but she was too slow. As soon as she got close enough, the taller of the two ninja sprinted towards her and dealt a hard punch to her stomach. She gasped as air the air escaped her lungs. Her upper body tried to curl into fetal position, but quickly unraveled as she slunk to her knees and collapsed in full view of the males.

A faint cry resounded in her ears as she fell into a deep sleep.

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><p>Sasuke was trapped in his memories. He kept seeing all his relatives...dead. He was eight again, vulnerable and scared. He just lost his sensei as well, what could he do? He couldn't move. He couldn't even register in his mind the fact that Haruno was pretty much single-handedly holding steady against the two mist shinobi. He was still throughout the whole thing, until...<p>

Haruno cried out.

He snapped out of his thoughts and saw the pink-haired 'boy' curl into himself before falling to the ground. Blood began to flow onto the ground. The blood was seeping from the wounds on Haruno's torso and calf. The dark substance spread more across the clearing.

No no no! Not again! Sasuke jumped out of his immobile state to get to Haruno.

"Wake up! Haruno! Get up!" Sasuke yelled as he gripped Harunos's shoulders and tried jostling him back awake, but Haruno's head only lolled back to his chest, his eyes and chest unmoving. The only thing Sasuke succeeded in doing was coating himself in Haruno's blood. He shivered as he stared at his hands which were tainted red.

"Damn it!" Sasuke gritted out. Didn't he swear not to let this happen again? Not to let someone he knew (cared) about die in front of him while he just stood there? He just lost two people on his first mission! He broke his vow so quickly! He shook with anger. How could he have let this happen?!

Sasuke gently placed Haruno back onto the ground. His clothes now marred with Haruno's blood, much like 'his' was with Kakashi's. Those pathetic mist ninja were going to pay. This he will make sure to get his revenge!

"You're going to pay!" Sasuke spoke aloud, his angered expression that was previously hidden by his face now revealed itself to the two ninjas who were not intimidated by him at all. Sasuke then launched several kunai in their direction. The two easily dodged the weapons. They momentarily paused in their assault on the broken team.

"Tch. You couldn't even take us on while your little friend had to deal with us all by herself. How are you supposed to take us on now?" one of the nin spoke with a sneer. He unraveled his chain once more as he lazily swung it around.

"She was pretty good, but not good enough. Now she's all dead and it's all your fault." The other taunted as he mimicked the actions of his comrade.

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled, his rage getting the best of him. He charged forward intending to strike at one of the one that blamed him for Haruno's death, but he was easily driven off by the two working together.

"Look! I think he's mad at you," one of the nin laughed. The other laughed as well.

"What's he going to do about it?" The other, taller one, spoke.

"I'm going to kill you!" Sasuke screamed as he proceeded into firing his family's signature jutsu. The two jumped up and dodged the attack. Sasuke charged once again towards the taller ninja. His blows were easily parried by the older, much more experienced ninja. Sasuke was easily getting nowhere fast. The duo continued to mock him and his attempts at causing them damage.

Finally, Sasuke leaped backwards slightly worn down with the strain put into fighting two opponents at the same time. He huffed with short breaths coming out of him as the two ninja waited for him to recover, mocking his abilities to keep up with them. His glare increased two fold.

"You know, you're such a bore," the shorter one said as he twirled a kunai in his hand. "You're little pink-haired friend over there was much better at fighting than you are." The taller one nodded in confirmation.

"Why you-" Sasuke growled. He was cut off by a groan coming from the pinkette that flinched as soon as she tried to move.

"Haruno!" Sasuke turned his head back to assure his teammate was alive, and sure enough there she was struggling to pick herself up from the ground.

"So she lives!" The shorter one remarked sarcastically.

"Not for long!" The taller one quickly charged towards the young girl who still hasn't managed to get up.

"Haruno!" Sasuke ran forward, but was intercepted by the shorter ninja. "You'll have to get passed me first!" He yelled as he threw his chain at him. The chain was grabbed by Sasuke, much to the mist ninja's shock. Sasuke's hand was impaled by the spikes from the shuriken which were easily digging into his hand and quickly drawing a lot of blood. Sasuke let loose a feral growl, "Get out of my way!" he pulled the chain forward and bashed his other hand, which was currently a fist, into the nin's face. The nin was thrown back several feet until he collapsed by harshly colliding into a tree. He was instantly knocked out.

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><p>The other nin stopped in his path as he saw his partner sail through the air past him. He turned back to see the boy whose eyes seemed to turn as red as the blood on his hand. He shivered on the inside at the positively demon-like expression on the boy's face. He steeled himself as he charged back at the girl. He believed that the boy would loose his resolve if his friends were gone and go raving mad, enough for him to escape his red gaze.<p>

However, he did not count that Sasuke would reach him before getting any closer to the girl and making him fly back with a well placed kick to his torso. He hit the ground pretty bad as he felt his fractured ribs. He flinched in pain as he forced himself to his feet while pressing on his ribs to preposition.

The kid's abilities seemed to have improved now that he had his bloody red eyes. He ran towards the momentarily stationed genin with a kunai drawn. He was going to have to stop taunting him and get to killing him before he got killed.

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><p>Sasuke felt his gaze blur a bit before it sharpened to a degree to which he had never seen before in his life. He was able to see every minuscule detail of his surroundings. The small leaf that snapped from a branch as a harsh breeze came by. He could see tiny particles as they floated with the wind. Everything instantly focused to an astonishing degree. He drew in a sharp breath. He knew what this was. He recalled a conversation he had with his cousin Shisui before he had passed.<p>

_"Hey Shisui-nii, what's wrong with your eyes? How come they're red instead of black?"_

_"Hmm?" the curly-haired Uchiha turned to see his younger cousin. "Oh, Sasuke-chan!"_

_"Shisui-nii...don't call me that..." the younger Sasuke pouted._

_"Ah, hah, hah, you're a riot, little cousin." Shisui laughed as he petted his younger cousin's hair._

_"Anyway," Sasuke said as he smacked his cousin's hand from his hair, "What's wrong with your eyes?"_

_"Oh, this," Shisui asked as he got closer to Sasuke's face so he could see the swirling black tomoe that contrasted against the red iris._

_"Yeah, that!" Sasuke childishly confirmed._

_"This, little Sasu-chan, is the Sharigan. It's a special bloodline trait that runs in our family."_

_"Oh! Does Itachi-nii have it too?" Sasuke asked. Shisui nodded._

_"Some day you'll get it too, Sasu-chan," Shisui stated with a sad smile._

_Sasuke was confused by his elder cousin's expression, but then asked eagerly, "What does it do?"_

_Shisui stood up from his crouched position, "Well little Sasuke, the Sharingan helps us see a lot better. Like ten times better!" Shisui spread his arms wide to emphasize the amount to the younger Uchiha. "It also helps us fight better, too!"_

_Sasuke straightened in awe at his family's bloodline trait, "Is that why nii-san is so amazing at fighting?"_

_"Mmhmm," Shisui nodded at the little boy._

_"I know! One day I'm gonna get the Sha-sharin...sha-rin-gan too! So I can help nii-san and Shisui-nii!"_

_"You do that Sasuke." Shisui said as he laughed at his little cousin's antics._

He then turned his gaze to the two mist ninja that had tried to attack his team. The one that he had punched was bent in front of a tree, seemingly passed out from the hit. The other looked at him with shock clearly seen in his face. He then glared at him before running to finish what he had set to do, kill Haruno.

Sasuke growled. He's not letting his comrade (friend) die-ever! He quickly sped off towards the ninja. He appeared in front of him and extended his leg towards the mist ninja who was flung back by his kick and tumbled unto the ground. He heard the man groan as he stood before forcing his rib back into place and rushing at him. He was not going down without a fight and leapt up to meet him half-way.

* * *

><p>Haruno groaned as she came back to. She slowly opened her eyes to close them soon afterwards, shielding them from the glare of the let out a whimper as she tried to move. Apparently, her whimper resounded a bit louder than she thought because she heard footsteps jogging towards her location.<p>

"Haruno! Are you alright?!" That loud voice could only belong to her teammate, Naruto. Her head throbbed as Naruto's voice echoed in her head.

"Oi!" A voice growled as a thud sounded shortly after. Sasuke?

"Oww! What the heck was that for!" Naruto yelled.

"Idiot!" Definitely Sasuke. "Can't you see she's barely woken up and still hurt! Your loud voice is probably giving her a headache!"

"Oops! Sorry Haru-chan!" Naruto whispered loudly.

"Tch. I'm gonna go get something to eat. Help Haruno get back to the campsite." Sasuke uttered as he left the two.

Haruno raised her arm sluggishly to place it front of her face so that she could see. She noticed that her arm was covered in bandages and forced the other arm up as well, that arm also being covered with the same wraps. She then gingerly tried to lift herself up into a seating position, but her arms gave up on her. Before she could slam back down to the ground and hurt herself further, Naruto grabbed onto her wavering form and helped to position her. She threw a small, yet grateful, smile at him which he returned his bright grin. She flinched once she settled herself against a tree trunk. Naruto's grin quickly sobered.

"I'm sorry Haru-chan," Naruto said softly.

Haruno tilted her head in confusion, waiting for Naruto to elaborate.

Naruto lifted his head slightly to meet her gaze before he turned it back down to the patches of grass growing on the ground. He ran his fingers in between the blades of grass and gripped a few strands. "I couldn't move." He spoke as he gripped the blades of grass tightly within his fist as his hand trembled in anger. "I couldn't do anything 'cause I was too scared to move and you had to go and protect duck-butt and me all by yourself. You nearly died right in front of us and I couldn't do anything to help you. I just sat there shaking while the jerk got up to help us. I was like a scared little cat, just like the jerk said." Naruto spat as he ripped the grass from the ground and threw it as far as he could into the forest.

Haruno simply observed her teammate as he ranted about his moment of weakness. She knew that Naruto needed to let this go and waited for him to calm down and finish before he spoke once again. This time he turned to face her directly and stare her in the eyes.

"But, not anymore!" Naruto yelled with determination shining in his eyes. "Haru-chan you were my first friend and if it wasn't for you I don't know what I would do or who I'd be right now, that's why I promise. I promise not to be scared anymore. I'll always be there when anyone needs me, especially you Haru-chan!" He smiled brightly, the fox-like grin present on his face. Haruno smiled softly at him as they both felt the breeze that passed through the trees into their clearing.

"Alright! Now let's get back to the campsite and tell Kakashi-sensei you're alright!" Naruto exclaimed jovially as he picked Haruno up onto his back.

"Wait, what?" Haruno sputtered.

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered. "I guess he did a substitution jutsu and disappeared somewhere, but he's alive and came back!" Haruno couldn't believe her sensei let them get beaten to an inch of their lives. She and Kakashi-sensei had a lot to talk about.

When they reached the campsite, the two were greeted with the sight of an irate Kakashi and a nervous Tazuna. Sasuke had just stepped into the clearing as well immediately sensing the tension in the air.

"Well Tazuna, I believe you have something you need to tell us." Kakashi spoke with a deadpan. His voice betrayed no emotion, but his aura spoke for itself.

"Er, well-"

"And it better be good. My students were placed in great danger and I almost lost one of them." Kakashi's aura was getting darker by the second. " Now explain why I shouldn't cancel this mission and have you apprehended for lying to the Hokage and risking the lives of three genin?"

Tazuna tried in vain to hold up his stoic expression, but it was hard to do so with the ultimate death glare he had gotten from Kakashi. He let out a shaky breath. "I wish this didn't happen, but unfortunately it has. I am the bridge builder of my village and, well, my village is poor, not even the leaders of our village are rich. Only by completing this bridge will my village improve its economy. However, there is a man named Gato that wishes to stop the bridge from being built since he monopolizes all of the businesses to leave us dirt poor by having to pay ridiculous amounts of money to him. That's why he is paying people to kill me and, well, the villagers and I gathered as much money as we could to pay for a mission from a ninja village, but we only had enough for a C-rank, let alone a B or A-rank. So, I ask that you please help me to get home to finish the bridge." He gains more confidence as he goes on,"Oh and I have a daughter and grandson waiting for me at home too, but if you decide to abandon me here and let me get killed, that's fine too. I'm sure they can find time to mourn my loss." Tazuna shrugged.

'Cheeky, old man," the three genin utter in their heads.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I'd like to help, but this is an A-rank mission and well-"

"Oh, c'mon Kakashi-sensei! Let's help this old geezer get back home! We can do it!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto! Shut up!" Sasuke whisper-yelled. "Haruno's still not doing good and someone could find us!"

"Oh, right!" Naruto stage whispered. "Sorry Haru-chan! Sorry Kakashi-sensei!" The others sweatdropped (A/N: Sorry, is this a thing? :P I'll use it anyway).

"Naruto," Kakashi began, "Haruno's still injured we can't risk her safety or our safety trying to protect her on such a dangerous mission."

Naruto's face fell. "Oh, yeah, right..."

"It's fine, Kakashi-sensei, Naruto," Haruno spoke as she forced herself to rise, Naruto hovering over her in case she tried to fall. "Thanks Naruto, but I'm fine." She then turned to her sensei, "It's alright Kakashi-sensei, I can keep on going."

"Amarante," Haruno flinched as Kakashi only refered to her with her last name when something was wrong or he was upset, "You are injured severely and may need to get hospitalized if your condition gets any worse. We are going back to the Leaf Village and getting some-"

"Wait! Please Kakashi-sensei!" Haruno yelled as she fell forward into a low bow, "I promise I can keep going and my condition won't get worse. I'll hold my own! I promise not to be a burden to you guys! Please let us finish this mission!"

They all looked at Haruno's bent position before they turned to look at Kakashi. Kakashi sighed. "Haruno, you realize what could happen on this mission and the consequences of continuing this mission."

"Yes, sensei, I understand." Haruno still didn't raise her head or any part of herself from the bow.

"You also realize the dangers that we are going to face and how we might not be able to protect you or treat you if you get worse."

"Yes, sensei."

Kakashi sighed again. "Alright, we're finishing this mission. Now go get some rest before we leave in the morning."

Naruto jumped up and cheered. Sasuke smirked. Sakura let out a breath of relief as she straightened herself out. It seems that things were finally going to get interesting around here.


	9. Chapter 7

I would like to apologize to everyone who was waiting for a new chapter, but my brother was being an idiot and he thought that he would amuse himself by taking my laptop on his trip. A trip that lasted more than a month. For that he received a very nice slap to the back of the head, followed by a rather passive aggressive beat down. Again, I would like to emphasize that my brother is an idiot. So the update is late. Also, a tad bit shorter as I tried to post this as quickly as possible.

Thanks for the nice reviews. **:)**

Enjoy! (Sorry it's late, but it has new stuff!)

**NEW-ISH**

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><p>After they were dropped off on the other side of the water by the man in the boat (AN: Did they ever mention his name?) they headed off to Tazuna's home. Tazuna engaged in conversation with Kakashi-or at least tried to, that silver haired man would never let anything tear his attention from his little book if he could help it. This meant that Haruno was once again tasked with preventing her teammates from tearing each other's heads off which meant that she had to walk in between the two prideful idiots. She sighed as the boys once again got closer to yelling at each other's faces right of her. With an irritated expression present on her face she placed a hand on the face of both boys on either side of her and pushed them back. They both looked with slightly angered and confused faces, but at the sight of her glare both grumbled under their breaths and continued walking in silence. Seriously, there on a mission. They can't afford to be fighting each other when someone could hear them and ambush them.

Another uneasy feeling came across Haruno again, though this one felt a lot worse. The coming fog didn't help to ease her tension. She could also feel Naruto and Sasuke stiffen as the slight fog rolled in. They moved slightly quicker to keep up with Kakashi and Tazuna who were just ahead of them. They only grew more tense the further they got from shore. She could see that both of their hands were twitching and placed too closely to their kunai pouches. If someone was watching them they would obviously notice how inexperienced the two were. Not to mention the nervous auras the two were giving off, they were starting to make her uneasy as well.

Haruno flinched as Naruto jumped forward and threw a kunai into the fog and heard it thunk onto a tree. The three genin turned to see past Naruto at the place where he threw a kunai. It was only a rabbit that was now pressed tightly to the tree. It's eyes were huge in shock. Naruto raced forward to smother the poor rabbit in his arms, yelling out apologies all the way. The rabbit was limp, paralyzed in fear. They relaxed and let out annoyed sighs at Naruto.

'Wait!' Haruno thought as she took another glance at the rabbit in Naruto's arms. It had an ivory coat, not one that was supposed to be a shade of umber. It was spring, not winter. The coat should have changed long ago to protect the rabbit from predators. Something was wrong-again. Something was going to end badly-again.

Sure enough, a huge sword-longer than any of the genin present-launched from the trees to decapitate them.

"Everyone GET DOWN!" Kakashi yelled. They all responded instantaneously and threw themselves onto the ground. The sword embedded itself into a trunk of the tree shy of completely cutting the tree in half. They all jumped to their feet to try and find the perpetrator.

"Eight choices," a deep voice echoed in the parting of the forest were the team and their ward were located at. They rapidly turned their heads to try and figure out where the owner of the voice was located, yet they couldn't find anything that even resembled a human figure in the fog.

"Kidneys, Liver, Lungs…" The voice continued to echo through the fog covered clearing. The genin were confused-what was this man trying to say?

"...Heart, Carotid Artery, Jugular Vein, Brain, Aorta…" They shuddered at how cold the man's voice became. The temperature easily dropped several degrees.

"...So many choices...so many ways to KILL!" The voice yelled. The words pierced the air and instilled fear in the weaker genin. They were being completely smothered against the killing intent that instantaneously surrounded the clearing. A figure shot through from the surrounding woods and landed crouched on top of the sword protruding from the large tree trunk.

The three genin drew their weapons closer to themselves and waited in anticipation of the dangerous man's next actions. Their sensei's face fell and turned into a familiar expression of concern when dealing with an incoming disaster.

It was silent.

And then,

"Kakashi Hatake, elite ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leafs. Also known as Copynin Kakashi," Zabuza responded to his comment as he straightened out his form. He then dropped down from the sword and yanked it out in one pull. The genin looked on appalled at the man's massive strength.

Kakashi sighed, "Get into formation. Our mission is to protect the client."

The three genin ran into position, surrounding the bridge builder. This way, Zabuza would at least have to confront one of them to get to Tazuna, or so the formation was meant to accomplish. They all knew that if Zabuza directed his attention to them, none of them would be able to do anything to stop him.

Kakashi let out a huff before he spoke again.

"Zabuza Momochi, missing nin from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Also known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist," Kakashi drawled in his impassive voice. His hands at his side, yet if one was to take a closer look, one was millimeters away from brushing the kunai pouch attached to his thigh.

Zabuza simply stood. The hand that held his sword was bent behind himself. Kakashi continued, his gaze never leaving Zabuza's, "Zabuza is also known for his silent killing technique. Don't let your guard down or else it's over." He deceptively turned his gaze towards Zabuza in a seemingly lazy manner.

Zabuza rotated his neck before it cracked, making the genin and ward flinch. "What did you expect? I was after all the one that killed all of my classmates back before I even graduated. Truly, it was entertaining. All those bodies and blood...Your little Konoha genin are just a joke."

It was clear that his goal was to strike fear into the less experienced squad.

And it worked.

The genin drew in a sharp breath. The despair in their eyes was clear. They felt themselves freeze at the words. Their first mission outside of the village and they could already die. Naruto was no longer amongst them, eyes as wide as possible as his body began to shut down. Haruno let out small gasps as she tried to recall how to properly breathe again. Even the 'almighty' Sasuke was frightened. His hand that held the kunai was quivering.

"It's okay Sasuke, calm down. I won't let my comrades die," Kakashi said as he turned to look at them with a close eyed smile. The raven haired boy's hand stilled its shaking to instead make itself grip the small blade even harder than before.

"Is that so?" Zabuza said with a slight tilt of his head. "Well, then, I guess I'll have to get through you first, huh, Kakashi," Zabuza slung his sword back to the front and let it hit the ground with a thud that send a small rumble through the ground.

Kakashi simply turned back to Zabuza his face now morphed into a glare. He got lower to the ground as he got into his battle stance. He dug into his pouch and dug out a kunai. Zabuza, once again, lifted his sword up to point at the silver haired man in front of him.

"Do try to make this fun, okay?" Zabuza then leapt forward towards Kakashi with his sword lifted over his head.

x

Kakashi was dumped unceremoniously on the futon that was laid out in the middle of the room. After a quick back to the head slap, Kakashi was placed inside the futon and covered by the sheets before the door to the room was closed.

"Did you really have to dump him on the futon like that?" Haruno asked.

"Sensei was so heavy to carry..." Naruto huffed as he stretched out his spine. "Even with my clones I could barely manage to lift him."

"Be grateful we managed to escape intact Naruto," Haruno chided as she wrapped her arm that was littered with cuts with bandages. Luckily, she didn't manage to damage her previous injuries any badly than she already had, so they didn't need to be re wrapped again. She then turned her attention to Naruto, who had a large cut, and dabbed at his cheek with a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol on it. Naruto winced slightly at the pain.

"Yeah! I guess we were pretty lucky to get outta there, huh? But really! It's all thanks to your mad skills Haru!" Naruto said as he nervously rubbed the back of his head before looking admiringly at his teammate. Haruno chuckled softly, she was mostly running on desperation and adrenaline in that battle. Honestly, she just wanted to live. The only thing she could remember was sporadically throwing all of the weapons she had on the pouch attached to her leg.

Haruno laughed. It wasn't really because she thought that Naruto was funny or laughing at the rather sloppy way she fought, but rather she was still happy that at least they had managed to survive.

Alas, there was still the one left behind...the memory still played behind Haruno's eyelids. That Zabuza just gripped too hard onto the poor thing, the resulting snap was inevitable. It still made Haruno shudder and flinch whenever she hears the snap echo in her memories, and the following splashes as it hit the water.

"Thank you for your hospitality Tazuna-san," Haruno bowed to the drunken old man who merely waved it off. "And to you as well Tsunami-san, we're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause for you. Is there any way we could pay you back?" Haruno said mimicking his previous actions to the woman.

"Ah~. There is no need to be so polite Haruno-kun. In fact, I should be the one to thank you for actually escorting my father here, instead of imprisoning him. Honestly, we really didn't have the money to afford a higher rank. We gave up most of what we had saved up for just a C-rank, you see..." Tsunami explained.

"I, well, we believe you Tsunami-san. I can see that this village is very...impoverished." Haruno commented sadly, trying not to offend.

"Yes, but hopefully when the bridge is finally built, this village could once again prosper," Tsunami smiled softly. Haruno could only smile back at the woman's hopeful thoughts.

"Alright then how about we both go out to train? Hm, Naruto?" Haruno turned back to her teammate. Naruto gained a gleam in his eyes. Finally, he and Haruno were alone to train... Naruto blushed. A goofy smile broke on his face. Wait! Naruto shook his head. He and Haru were still boys. You can't have a crush on your comrade! Especially not a guy! But then again, this was Haru he was talking about...

Haruno could only blink at him in confusion. She turned to look at the other two, but they looked as confused as she did.

However, the smile was short lived as he looked at Haruno who was still somber. Oh, that's right. Naruto became saddened. Although the sacrifice was necessary for them to survive, he knew that Haruno still felt sad and guilty about it. He felt upset about it too, but-! Naruto clenched his hands into fists.

'I knew it!' Naruto glared at the ground. 'I should have tried harder! If only I was stronger! I could have done something! Now Haru is like this...if only...Argh!'

Haruno could see that her friend was becoming angrier with himself every second. She snapped him out of it by placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay Naruto. You and I know we had to leave or else Tazuna could have been killed, and us too. So please don't be angry at yourself." She said.

"But Haru...I-if I had been stronger maybe I could have done something to help and maybe..." Naruto trailed off. Haruno smiled at him, she knew that he was trying his best to comfort her and erase her own guilt, but she was just as guilty as he was, if not more. After all, she had the most battlefield experience of the two of them. If anything, she should have protected them better. It was pure luck that allowed them to live. If Zabuza had not caught...and proceeded to break...then Kakashi would have still been fighting with Zabuza and be unable to make the teleport jutsu they needed to escape before passing out. Haruno gasped-as if suffocating-at every pause in her mental sentence.

"Now all we have are small pieces left..." Naruto said as he pulled out two strips, one a dark blue and the other a bright white. There were also tiny pieces of a fan in there, too. Haruno clasped at the presented strips of cloth and looked at Naruto with tears in her eyes. Naruto met her gaze with sadness present in his gaze. "Thank you Naruto." she whispered as she closed her hands around his and leaned in to the strips and closed her eyes, tears escaping silently. "At least there is still something left to remember." Naruto could only look sadly at her, regardless of the affection he just showed him.

After all, they just lost one key element to their mission, but most importantly, to their team...

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><p>I tried to make Zabuza seem more like an intelligent individual with a bit of a...tick, per se.<p>

If you're a review kind of person, I'd be glad to see them! I know I don't review-usually.

Japanese:English

genin: low rank ninja

kunai: a ninja weapon mainly used for throwing, though can also be used for hand-to-hand combat. It has a diamond end that is used to slash and cut. The middle is used to grip it, with the other end being a ring

sensei: teacher

jutsu: ability or skill


	10. Chapter 8

Eh? Oh! Welcome back to my fanfic for all you followers. Thanks for my reviewers and a HUGE thank you for the support from all you guys! **:)**

I want to apologize to my readers for taking so long to post this next chapter. I had a huge project that was due this previous Wednesday and I had to help my little brother with his costume and trick-or-treating. Also, **please only expect an update from me once or twice a month**. I really don't like disappointing my readers, but unfortunately, it seems I do that a lot.

Enjoy~!

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><p>There was a small sob fest from the two genin. Tazuna and Tsunami looked on, unsure of how to deal with the two since they were not shinobi themselves and figured that they were a bit too different from them to be of any help with the situation.<p>

"Okay we need to be strong!" Haruno said determined, as she wiped the tears off of her face.

"Yeah! You're right Haru! To training!" Naruto said enthusiastic.

"To become stronger-!" Haruno held her fist out.

"-and protect those precious to us!" Naruto met her fist with his own. Both grinned at each other before they were two resounding slaps to the backs of their heads.

"Oi. You two aren't supposed to leave without me and stop being so melodramatic." Sasuke said.

"Ah! Sasuke-kun!/Sasuke!" The two gripped the back of their heads, whimpering. The two then glared at the raven, who only scoffed at them and their childish antics.

"Stop whining. I know that you two can take hits worse than that." He deadpanned. He winced slightly from the pain that still hasn't unfiltered from his body.

"We really weren't going to leave you behind willingly, you know..." Haruno trailed off. "We just thought that you needed a bit longer to recover than the two of us." Haruno finished, looking up at him with a tearful expression filled with guilt.

"I'm fine." Sasuke said with a small blush and a tiny gasp. It really didn't matter if the pinkette was a male, he was absolutely adorable...he winced as his chest fluctuated with his inhale. Sasuke gazed down to his wrapped torso. He received a big gash in his torso when he took a hit for Haruno. It hurt a lot, but if the pink haired ninja got a hit like that after what happened with the other two mist ninja, he might have died from the severe blood loss. Besides, he was probably going to get injuries like this again someday and it was good to gain an early tolerance for pain. It also helps him gain more points with the pinkette seeing as he saved his life. Anyway, he wasn't the one who suffered the greatest sacrifice in the attack.

"Hey Amarante," Sasuke spoke, making the pink haired ninja look up at him, "about you know what...sorry."

"Oh...it's fine." Haruno turned her head to the side, her sadness returning as her eyes glazed. Naruto instantly whipped his head to glare at the raven, especially when he just managed to cheer up Haru. Sasuke felt bad about bringing the issue up, but that didn't stop him from glaring back at the blond.

See the problem was that Haruno had to sacrifice her favorite weapon in the battle, a beautiful medium sized fan. The fan was the first gift Haruno received when she entered the village. It was given to her by a kind elderly woman who, in her old age, confused him for a girl (although she was right) and gifted him the fan, saying that a pretty girl deserved a beautiful fan to carry with her. The fan was a beautiful combination of a sea foam white and so many shades of blue from navy to turquoise blue with gold around the edges, giving it the illusion of a summer beach. Haruno and the elderly woman quickly became friends. The two would often converse and keep each other company in the afternoons. Then, one day the old woman was killed on a trip to another land. She was given no funeral since her body was not found and she had no living relatives. Haruno grieved for the woman and only had her fan to remember her by. She practiced dances in secret with the fan, but never really gave to much thought to using it in battle because she believed it was only used for decoration.

Haruno ended up sacrificing the fan in the battle because it was the last potential projectile she had left. Surprisingly enough, the fan was actually a weapon. It had sharp knives in the support and acted like a boomerang because even though Zabuza jumped out of the way of the initial hit, the fan retraced its path to Haruno to try and hit Zabuza again and return to Haruno. Zabuza had to crush the fan in his grip to finally stop its targeting him, but by the time he did so, the leaf ninja had escaped and were already gone.

As soon as they landed a safe distance away from Zabuza, Kakashi passed out from the chakra drain onto a squealing Naruto. Haruno figured that Naruto had their sensei and instantly went to check on her raven haired teammate, seeing as he now sported a large gash to the side of his torso. She quickly did the best she could to stop the bleeding by wrapping him up tightly with bandages. She carefully pulled him up to his feet as Naruto made clones to help him carry Kakashi. Tazuna simply followed behind, still in shock by the entire incident. They ran towards the village that was in the horizon and luckily they did not run into Zabuza on the way. Naruto and Haruno were escorted to Tazuna's house and they quickly got to work into saving their teammates. After they checked out fine, everyone left the room to let the two rest.

And, well...here they are now...

"Ah, well I guess we should go train, huh you guys?" Haruno asked.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke merely grunted his approval.

"Would you be fine if we leave you here Tazuna-san?" Haruno asked.

"Sure, sure. Just get going brats." Tazuna waved off.

"Oh! And don't worry about your sensei! I'll take good care of him~!" Tsunami said as the preteens left the house.

"Thanks Tsunami-san!" Haruno and Naruto yelled back.

The three genin went to a small, nearby clearing and began to do their warm up exercises. After that they remained looking at each other. There was a long silence among them. The wind blew threw the nearby tree branches and the sound of the swaying leaves was heard.

"Soooo...uh, what are we gonna do?" Naruto asked.

"I-I'm not sure...uh, what do you guys want to do?" Haruno muttered.

"Hn. Figures. We end up coming here without even knowing what we're going to do." Sasuke sighed, exasperated. The other two rub the back of their necks, nervous chuckles coming out of them.

"Um, well-! How about we come up with stuff we know that the other two of us don't!" Naruto thought.

"Okay! And the person that knows how to do that stuff can teach the other two!" Haruno finished.

"Yeah!" Naruto enthusiastically agreed with the pink haired ninja.

"Okay Naruto, you first." Haruno started. Naruto beamed, eager to show the petite 'boy' how much he really knew.

"As if he knew stuff we didn't." Sasuke scoffed. He then narrowed his eyes, there was no way the blond would get an upper hand in this silent war over the clueless pink haired nin.

"Hey! Shut it Sasuke!" Naruto's temper got the best of him.

"Idiot."

"Jerk!"

"Guys! Calm down!" The two boys frowned and faced away from each other.

"Okay...so anything you think we might want to learn Naruto?" Haruno asked.

"Um," Naruto thought for a second. " I guess I can help you guys with your stamina and stealth and...Oh yeah! How about the shadow clone jutsu?"

"Okay. Anything else?" Haruno tried to encourage him to dig deep.

"Not really..."

"Tch. Knew it."

"Shut it!" The two glared at each other as the air crackled between them.

"Guys!" Haruno threatened. The sparks diminished as the two looked away pouting.

"Sasuke, what about you?"

"I can help with aim and speed. There is also the Fire Ball Jutsu, but I doubt the idiot can learn it."

"Dang it Sasuke!"

"Anything else?" Haruno ignored Naruto's reply, she was already on her last nerves.

"No."

"Alright then. I can help with expanding your chakra reserves through meditation/concentration and agility. I also know a few water jutsu we can try."

"Alright!" Naruto jumped eager to begin.

"Okay, you start."

"Alright, the first thing you two need to do is..."

...

The grass was swaying. Three bodies could be seen, sprawled out on the ground. Their hair was covering their eyes.

.

.

.

Simultaneously, the three groaned. Small gasps were heard coming from the three of them.

"Ugh, my body's sore..." Haruno sighed. Her muscles were sore since she was the one most lacking in physical strength. Thus, she was the one that was mostly doing physical exercises and speed/endurance runs.

"Tch. I'm completely out of chakra." Sasuke complained. He was in the middle of his two other teammates. He had a lot less chakra than Naruto (and Haruno by a bit), but he had decent control over it, though not perfect like Haruno did. He did the chakra exercises that helped to expand his chakra and control it better.

"Agh! My brain's fried!" Naruto whined. He was the least intellectual of the trio and meditation was also difficult for him. He kept trying to meditate for long periods of time- though trying is the key word here. He was also the klutziest and had bruises and cuts from their impromptu obstacle course.

"Alright...let's get back to Tsunami...-san's...house..." Haruno passed out asleep along with Sasuke.

Naruto groaned again. "Aw, c'mon you guys! I don't want to carry people again! My brain's going to explode!" Naruto yelled as he pulled on his scalp. He whined again before taking one leg of each of his teammates' and dragged them all the way back to the house. Tsunami and Tazuna only stared and sweatdropped as they saw the blond drag his unconscious teammates up the stairs, the raven was still being dragged and his head constantly bumped against the stairs. Low groans could be heard by the boy as he subconsciously registered the pain. The pinkette was luckier. Since Naruto had an overwhelming crush on the 'boy' he decided to be merciful and carried 'him' on his back. Later on, Naruto would be grateful as he remembered the soft breaths of the pink haired ninja as she snoozed on his shoulder.

Haruno and Sasuke ended up waking up at the same time as Kakashi did. Kakashi, however, was the worst of the three. He still couldn't move much, apparently there was a lot of internal damage done to him. Haruno easily took on the job as the helpful little nurse and tried to help her sensei regain his health, much to the jealousy of the other two boys. The two immediately demanded to be in the room when Haruno was (they passed it off as concern over their sensei). Kakashi found it absolutely hilarious how jealous the two boys were and constantly teased the two whenever the pinkette stepped out of the room. When Haruno would return she would see the two younger boys' faces flushed a vibrant red and a sly masked smile on Kakashi's face. She would always tilt her head in confusion which only made the others' reactions deepen. Her face would then mar into a concerned frown, but she never openly questioned the expressions.

She would then get on to taking care of her sensei and he would often embarrass her, making her face flush a light shade of pink. She did not notice how her sensei's eyes would trail to the boys', who had a look mixed between bitter anger/jealousy at their sensei and a blush over Haruno's adorable expression.

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><p>I implied it, but for the record I never said that Sasuke died, now did I? Review please.<p>

Japanese: English

genin: low rank ninja

shinobi: ninja

-kun: usually placed at the end off a boy's name as a form of endearment

-san: placed at the end of a name as a form of respect like Ms., Mrs., or Mr.

sensei: teacher


	11. Chapter 9

A million thank yous to the followers, reviewers, and favorite-ers (Is that a word? No? Well it is now... ) Thanks for the support!

I know that this chapter is early (and short), but I decided to post this in honor of the end of Naruto. I actually feel kinda sad to see it end, it's been going on for such a long time that it almost seems unreal that it's ending, but maybe its just me. Any who,

Enjoy~!

**REWRITTEN: NOV 8, 2014**

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><p>After her most recent treatment session under the scrutiny of her two teammates, Haruno sighed. She couldn't help but feel offended. Seriously, they 'feel concern over their sensei'? What kind of messed up line was that? Did they think she was incompetent or something and that she would mess up when treating their sensei? Did they trust so little in her healing skills? Sure she's not an expert medic nin or anything, but she's been healing her injuries ever since she could remember. Haruno huffed as she stepped out of the room. She left the small first aid kit at the side of the door. Tsunami, the kind soul, said to leave it there in case something happened to her sensei (or her idiot teammates) and she would know where the kit was. She could hear a ruckus going on in the room she just left, but she didn't want to get involved in another one of the boys' arguments.<p>

She dragged her feet across the floor and was about to turn down the corner when she saw Inari, Tsunami's son and Tazuna's grandchild. The little boy had quite a pessimistic attitude- or just attitude in general. She could still recall all those times when he would say that they were only going to get themselves killed. He would often whisper the words of discouragement when he was not seen by his mother or their sensei. He knew that they could hear him, but he would leave the room or hall the second one of them reacted to his words.

Luckily, another Naruto miracle occurred. That blond knucklehead managed to convince the brat to believe in them; that they would come back from the confrontation they would have with Gato and free the village from Gato's villainous clutches. Top it off with one of those megawatt smiles of his and Naruto found a new believer. The pinkette shook her head. In a few years, Naruto would probably have an uncountable fan group and they would found a religion called 'Narutoism'. Haruno couldn't help the delicate snort that expelled from her body. She saw Inari turn to her with a brow raised, but she merely smiled slightly at the boy and he only looked more puzzled at her and continued on his way.

Haruno informed her team's ward and his daughter of his whereabouts for training before bidding them farewell and leaving the place they were momentarily housed in. She calmly walked through the adjacent forest and wandered into the destined clearing with a pond in the middle. Once there, she set down her pouch and began her warm-up exercises. After she was done with her stretches, she took a deep breath, then in a second, kicked her pouch so that it flew high into the air. Kunai fell out of the pouch in scattered directions. Before they could land, she caught them all, each in their own orb. She pulled them close to herself and adjusted the orbs so that only the pointed ends of the knives were surrounded by water. The water froze into ice, jagged and dangerous. She tossed them into a tree and heard the thunks as they cut deeper into the tree than a regular kunai. Pleased by the results of her experimenting, she melted the ice and the kunai slipped out of the holes they made in the tree.

She ran to pick up the pouch and refilled it with her kunai. She strapped the pack onto her thigh before digging into the pouch on her hip. She took out a handful of senbon and tossed them into the air above her head. Quickly, she formed a shield made of water to protect her from the raining senbon. As soon as the needles sunk into the water, she froze the water to ice. Luckily, Haruno was fast enough to freeze the water so the senbon did not pass through the other side of the liquid.

The next thing to test out was her whirlpool. She tried to make the large body of water swirl, but it seemed that only the center of the lake obeyed. The outer part of the lake moved along with the whirl, but it was clear that it wasn't because she was making it do so, but was being pulled along. She huffed, all wars can't be one all at once. She decided to move along and created a clone. The clone was her guinea pig to test out her improvised water prison. Nodding simultaneously, the two began. Haruno pulled the water from the pond to surround her clone. After the orb was formed, she made it swirl erratically. Her jutsu was working judging by her clone's expression. The clone poofed out of existence at the time when Haruno would have passed out from the water and lack of air in her lungs. The sight was a chilling one Haruno had to admit, but she couldn't test it out on anyone else without harming them.

Finally, it was time for her favorite. Haruno concentrated and several blobs of water emerged from the lake and turned into snow before once again shifting to small wolves. Her pack of four bounded eagerly to her to receive their pets before moving back for her orders. She was wondering how to train with them when she caught sight of a deer at the edge of the forest. The deer did not take notice of them (yet), but perked its ears in caution. Haruno yelled out her command to get the deer and the deer quickly bounded back into the forest with Haruno and her pack at its heels.

The deer led them through a long chase in the forest, but Haruno's swiftest wolf caught up to it and tripped it by accidentally running in front of it. The wolf turned back to water as the deer fell forward. She ordered her wolves to stop. They did so and the shaken deer wobbled a bit before running further into the forest. She patted the three wolves for listening to her commands even through the thrill of the hunt. The wolves eagerly lapped up the attention. Haruno giggled, honestly they seemed more like tame dogs than wild wolves.

Suddenly, Haruno felt woozy and stumbled. Her wolves whined in concern. She used too much chakra. She waved them off just as she passed out. The wolves melted into water that splashed into the ground.

x

"Sensei!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke only glared at the bedridden man.

"Yes~?" Kakashi couldn't help the teasing note that only made the boys madder.

"Don't pretend that we don't know what you're doing!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke, though subtle, nodded in agreement.

"What am I doing exactly?" Kakashi asked.

"You know!" Neither Naruto nor Sasuke wanted to say what the problem was.

"I don't actually." Kakashi smiled under his mask.

"Yes! Yes you do!" Naruto was getting more and more upset. Sasuke was getting more and more annoyed.

"I don't."

"Ugh!" Naruto cried out. "I'm done with you!" He left the room, angry stomping being heard.

Kakashi turned to his other student, "so, Sasuke-what?" the boy was gone from his previous location and was now next to the door. "Won't you tell me what the problem is-?" He was cut off as Sasuke opened the door and left.

Kakashi sighed before chuckling to himself. 'If only those boys would admit their infatuation. Then NaruHaru or SasuHaru would set sail! I would demand, no, I _would_ be captain of the ship!' He mentally yelled, with a determined fist bump to the sky.

x

Haruno groaned and grabbed her head as her vision cleared. It seemed that she bumped her head when she fell. She gazed around the new clearing she was in since this didn't have a pond or was covered by trees like the one where she confronted the deer. She was about to speak when someone interrupted her.

"Ah, you're awake now."

Haruno gasped slightly as she looked up into the face of one of the most attractive people she ever saw. Dark long hair and a dark gaze. Their clothing brushed against the ground as they walked. The gaze and expression flat, but light, though she could sense the hard past that that individual must have gone through. However, the person clearly carried themselves highly and elegantly, almost like a noble.

"U-uhm," Haruno swallowed the lump in her throat to stop her stuttering, it was unbecoming of a ninja, such as herself. "Where am I?"

"I found you passed out in a clearing. It seemed that you were suffering, so I brought you to this clearing so I could help you. If I may, what were you doing to cause you to get to such a state?"

"Ah, I was training and it appeared that I exhausted myself." Haruno laughed nervously. "Thank you for your help, I appreciate it."

"Hmmm...by any chance are you a ninja?"

"Oh! Yes, I am!" Haruno replied quickly. The person's expression softened the tiniest bit more.

"Ah, I see."

"Is there any particular reason why you asked this?" The person's face turned towards her and she quickly amended her inquiry. "I didn't mean to sound rude or anything of the sort, I was simply curious. I apologize." She said as she bowed her torso.

"No. It's a completely valid question." The person settled down Haruno's worries. "It's simply because my younger sibling would have been around your age and would have been a ninja as well." The person answered.

"Did something occur? Again, I apologize."

"Yes, but the matter is of n concern. It's in the past and the past cannot be rewritten." The person finished.

A long silence stretched afterwards before Haruno broke it. "I never asked, but may I learn your name?"

The person seemed thoughtful for a moment before answering, " My name is..."

"My name is of no importance..." the person replied. Haruno could feel the pout forming on her face. The other person's deadpan expression did not change.

"Can you not tell me?" Haruno asked. She tried to see all directions of the matter before she assumed the person was rude.

"No. I simply would prefer not to answer your inquiry."

Okay...they're rude.

"Well," even though Haruno was upset, she still stuck to the manners her brother ingrained into her head, "thank you for saving me".

"Hm."

"Are you a shinobi?" Haruno asked.

"Perhaps."

"Are you going to give me any definite answer to anything I ask you?"

"I am male."

'Glad we cleared that up,' Haruno thought sarcastically while mentally rolling her eyes.

"A better thing to be worried about is how you are going to get back to where you need to be." The man stated.

"Ack!" Haruno just realized: she had no idea where she was, much less how she was going to get back to her teammates. The figure let out a barely audible sigh. The person lifted a finger towards the forest. In the distance, Haruno could see a trail.

"Follow that trail. It will lead you back towards the village." The male stood up and appeared to get ready to leave the clearing as well.

"Are you leaving?" Haruno asked.

"Yes." The person spoke. "I have come for what I needed. It is time for me to depart."

"Goodbye, then. I wish you safe travels on your journey." Haruno bowed towards the man.

"Likewise."

Haruno picked herself up from the ground and dusted herself off before heading for the path. Before she was out of the man's sight, the man called back to her.

"Amarante."

"Yes?"

"I am."

"What?" Haruno was confused.

The man's face shifted into an almost unnoticeable grin before making his face blank again. Then, he looked directly into Haruno's eyes before his figure began to warp. At first, Haruno thought that the man was actually a water clone, when she noticed the ends of his clothes and feet break into pieces before forming into a more bird-like shape. The birds remained dark in color and their eyes were a bright crimson. The crows flew in a swirl upwards into the sky.

Haruno continued to watch in awe as the birds flew more out of view until they were only tiny specks. Haruno saw a waver in the air and noticed something falling slowly towards her. She held out her hand as the object landed in her palm.

A single black feather.

* * *

><p>You know I was listening to all these (somewhat) sad and old melodies and I feel a melancholic nostalgia now... Hee hee, bet you expected it to be Haku, huh? I really wanted to have Itachi in this fic, though...<p>

Japanese: English

sensei: teacher

kunai: ninja weapon; resembles a dagger with a diamond point

senbon: ninja weapon; resembles needles


	12. Chapter 10

I am a super terrible updater. I will not lie. However, in return for me being the worst updater ever to have updated, I will attempt to finish this story by Christmas (or before new years as I would like to be finished with this story before the next year) as a present to all of you for still keeping up with this story. I apologize. But please,

Enjoy~!

* * *

><p>On the way back to the house, Haruno contemplated what happened in the clearing. Clearly, that man was a skillful shinobi to be able to change his body into birds. Or even if it was a clone or genjutsu, Haruno couldn't help, but be impressed. She wanted to learn how to do something like that too, even if it would probably be a bit too flashy and she would loose the element of surprise should she attempt an ambush...anyway, she was getting distracted. She didn't even know how to perform the jutsu anyway. But still...<p>

'Hmmm...maybe I can turn into birds too! Like sparrows or owls...Ooh, what about doves! And then when I meet the guy again we can both fade into birds of black and white! That'd be so cool! And we'd be opposites too, seeing as how crows are 'bad' and doves are 'good'! Why'd the guy chose crows to start with? Or can I change into something else entirely? But not smoke or leaves, gosh, too many ninjas do that and its getting boring...maybe I'll chose flower petals. I remember when Nii-san used to calm me his little flower growing in the snow.' She smiled then, a little blush evident in her face. 'Yeah...that'd be nice.'

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice she'd reached the house until she fell face forward into the floor of the porch deck. Luckily, only Tsunami-san was there to see her fall.

"Oh my goodness! Haru-kun! Are you alright!?" Tsunami yelled as she ran towards the pink haired ninja, who was still face-planted into the boards.

"I-I'm fi-i-ine..." Haruno groaned as she slowly picked herself up. There was a huge red welt on her forehead from the fall. She really hit the floor hard.

x

"Hey! I was looking everywhere for you! I almost thought you abandoned the mission!" A huge, muscular man bellowed as he saw a slightly shorter and more lean man walk up to him.

The other man was silent.

"Well, you're here now I guess..."

Silence.

"Where were you anyways?"

"..."

"C'mon! At least tell me this once! I'm never going to ask ever again."

"I...had a run in with someone..."

"Oooh~. You mean like a _lady_ someone?" There was a wiggling of eyebrows along with a razor sharp grin.

The leaner man decided to let the man know, after all it was a one-time deal. "In a way."

His partner's curiosity was peaked. "What do you mean by in a way?"

"They were dressed as a kunoichi-"

"So a cross dresser?"

"No."

"Okay, if they're dressed as a kunoichi, but aren't then-"

"It was a girl. However, the way she was carrying herself is that she was pretending to be male. However, it seems that something has caused her, most likely the forming of her genin group, to dress as a girl, thus her discomfort in her dress-" Though something could also be said about her odd hair color and eye color.

The first man frowned, confused. "You lost me. So was it a girl?"

"Yes."

"A kunoichi." He emphasized.

"Yes."

"Was she with her team?"

"No."

"Was she on a mission?"

"I did not inquire."

"Was she just passing through on her own, then?"

"Yes."

"Where did you two meet exactly?"

"In a clearing in a forest. She seemed on edge, but I attempted to not appear intimidating. I even gave her a gift."

"You dog!" The other man grinned. "So by gift you mean-"

"No." A dark glare was thrown at the man.

"Figures. You and your morals." The man seemed to pout. "Let's get going then, this mission isn't going to finish itself." The man heaved a sword over his shoulder as the two left the vicinity.

x

"Ugh. Thanks Tsunami-san." Haruno said as she rubbed the bandages over her injury. She really needed to stop spacing out like that. She could have fallen off a cliff or drowned in a lake or run into a pack of ravenous wild animals. Seriously.

"No problem at all!" Tsunami said cheerfully, putting the supplies back into the box.

"I better go see my teammates." Haruno said, standing up and walking towards the living room.

"Ah! Wait! Haru-kun!" Tsunami spoke all of a sudden.

"Yes?" Haruno turned to face the black haired woman.

"Your teammates told me to let you know that they went to the place you all were the other day to go train!" Tsunami said with a kind smile.

Haruno's eyebrow twitched. Could no one inform her of anything? She sighed. It wasn't Tsunami-san's fault that her teammates decided to leave without her.

"Thank you, Tsunami-san."

"You're welcome! Good luck training~!" Tsunami waved (A/N: oh the unexpected puns...).

Haruno's eyes lit with an emerald blaze. Oh, she was going to have an excellent training session. Shame that the same could not be said for her teammates. After all she had three new dummies that would make perfect targets for her ice weapons...or whirlpool...or snow pack. The possibilities were endless.

x

"And that is why no one should ever leave me behind unless you wish to face judgement again~!" Haruno said with a bright smile on his face as he cracked his knuckles.

Naruto could only groan in pain. He didn't know how, but Haruno had ended up defeating Sasuke, himself (because he was obviously stronger than that black haired jerk after all), and even their sensei!

It all happened a little like this...

_Flashback_

_Naruto growled as he fought with the boy he considered his rival. He was able to land hits on him, but the smug jerk was still swatting him around. He tried to aim a punch to his stomach, but instead got a kick to the side. He had to stop to get his breath back and the raven decided it was the best time to insult him._

_"Come on loser. I can't believe that Haruno would even spar with you, you're so weak." Sasuke said with a sneer._

_"Shut up! Don't drag Haru into this!" He yelled as he aimed a punch at the raven's face._

_Sasuke merely scoffed as he grabbed his arm and threw him over his shoulder onto the ground._

_"Can't even land a solid hit. Tch."_

_"Shut up!" This time Sasuke managed to kick him in the face causing him to land harshly on the ground. He spat out the blood that accumulated in his mouth rapidly._

_"He even calls you his best friend...what a joke. If anything, he should be acknowledging me instead of you." Sasuke glared at him, but then directed his attention towards the distance._

_"Tch. Jealous much Sasuke?" He decided on responding. The jerk was jealous that Haru liked him better._

_Sasuke's head snapped almost inhumanly quick back to face him, which he admitted, caused him to flinch slightly. The raven's night orbs bled into bright crimson with comma shaped markings circling his pupil._

_He knew he was playing with fire, but he couldn't help continuing to poke at the raven as he stood up. "Of course Haru likes me more. You're a rude, blunt jerk, not to mention that you think girls are weak and useless. He almost tore you to pieces for that last one! I can't believe that you said that even after knowing what Haru is like!" He had an arrogant grin on his face._

_Sasuke grit his teeth. His grin only grew wider at his expression. Sasuke glared and the tomoe of his eyes spun as he made a fist to hit the blond. "Wipe that stupid grin off of your face dead last!"_

_ Naruto didn't move, he knew that he struck a nerve on this one: even if Sasuke hit him, he would not be helping his case with Haruno. He decided to let what would happen happen._

_Turns out that Sasuke wouldn't get to land that hit because out of nowhere a hand grasped his wrist. After a moment of shock from the both of them, they saw that it was the boy they were just fighting over who gripped Sasuke's wrist._

_"Wha-" Sasuke didn't get to finish that phrase either because Haruno punched him in his midriff and sent him spiraling out of the clearing. Haru then turned to Naruto and he couldn't help the gulp. He knew he was dead._

_And right he was. After finishing his punishment, he saw Sasuke manage to limp back to the clearing holding his waist. Haru then jumped up into the trees and the sounds of a pursuit was heard. Their sensei was dumped into the clearing in the middle of the two of them._

_"Ah-! Hello boys!" Kakashi nervously said._

_All three shuddered as they felt a deadly glare directed at them. They turned their heads up to see a really, really mad Haruno looking down at them. They let out screams of fear as the boy jumped down from the trees above them._

_Flashback End_

_"_We're sorry Haruno-kun..." the three echoed.

"I think you all learned your lesson, now who wants to fight against me first?" Haruno said as she cracked her neck. The three jumped and both shook their heads.

"Nah! I think we're good Haru-chan. I mean you did beat all of us anyway!" Naruto laughed, even though it hurt. The other two nodded to his response.

"I suppose..." Haru trailed off,cupping her chin.

The three boys sighed in relief.

"But, we haven't worked on our running speed yet have we?" Haruno smiled. They sped off with Haruno quickly gaining on them. The water surged as it rose to follow Haruno. The water quickly froze to become levitating weapons that would be launched at them and running wolves that would howl and nip at their heels. The boys tried to pick up their speed and become evasive as much as possible.

"RUN YOU FOOLS RUN!" Haruno cackled evilly.

Later, when they were all getting to bed, Haruno noticed a paper pinned to her sleeve. Written on the slip was how to perform the jutsu the man at the clearing did.

x

Haruno felt very somber as she returned from the trip to go buy food...so many people were living in poverty. She sighed at their cruel misfortune, but hopefully by the time the mission was completed along with the bridge, these people would be headed towards the path of their economic recovery. That little question about the ripped picture, followed by Inari's outburst also reared in its ugly head. Haruno's head slumped. She just had to ask the worst questions didn't she.

She sighed as she fixed her futon that was left on the floor and put it in a corner. She gazed out the window, watching the birds fly over the horizon. She was worried about Naruto. He didn't return last night and Sasuke was sent out in the morning to find him seeing as how Kakashi seemed a bit out of commission to go outside for too far or long. Haruno on the other hand stayed back as "precaution" in case something were to happen, but everyone knew was that they didn't think Haruno was strong enough to go anywhere on his own out of civilization. Was she really that weak? Even as a boy? Or was this some kind of super-macho-protect-the-weak-and-feminine thing going on? Or were they trying to protect the elaborate ruse they had set up? Or maybe-?

"YOU GUYS! YOU GUYS!"

And there he is. Why did she worry in the first place? This was Naruto she was thinking about. And according to her observations, Sasuke was trailing behind, a little miffed, no doubt by having to go and fetch the ball of sunshine.

"Welcome back." Haruno called out from the second story window, waving at the boys.

"Ah-./Hey Haru-!" Haruno smiled at the boys, glad to see them safe. The two boys' responses fell and they looked intensely at the ground. Their feminine teammate seemed even more like a girl than usual now that he was wearing kunoichi clothes. They flushed a bright red. Why did their teammate have to be a boy? It seemed as if fate was targeting them for misfortune.

Kakashi observed all of this from his perch on the nearby tree. He couldn't help the snickers that came out of him from behind his orange book. Those three were so entertaining to watch. The blond and raven were falling under the rosette's spell so easily. NaruHaru and SasuHaru are still sailing smoothly with the help of the fates. However, they never get far especially when the boys refused to admit their feelings! Kakashi gripped his book harder. Someone make a move already! Confess! Confess! The suspense kills!

Naruto was the first of the two to lift his head. He rubbed the back of his neck like he always did when he was embarrassed or nervous. This got Kakashi's attention.

"Hey Haru?" Naruto spoke at a normal level for once, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"Yes?"

"I-" Kakashi gasped. Was his demand being answered?!

* * *

><p>Leave any questions or comments in a review!<p>

Japanese: English (just in case)

shinobi: ninja

genjutsu:

jutsu: skill/ability

nii(-san): older brother (respectful term)

-kun: usually placed at the end of a boy's name as a term of endearment

kunoichi: female ninja

genin: low rank ninja

sensei: teacher (can also be used to refer to a doctor)

tomoe: comma shaped marks

-chan: usually placed at the end of a girl's name as a form of endearment


	13. Chapter 11

Hello! As promised here is the next installment of my random story. Only one day left for me to finish before New Years...please wish me luck.

Enjoy~!

* * *

><p>"I...I just wanted to say something for a while now actually Haru..." Naruto began. He still didn't peel his eyes from the ground a nervous chuckle escaped from his lips. Sasuke gazed at him wondering his intentions and what he was going to say. Haruno's head was tilted in a cute manner as she tried to guess what Naruto was going to say.<p>

Kakashi, meanwhile, was a spastic wreck. On the inside at least. He couldn't show his little subordinates what he was really feeling, less he wanted to be chased by the trio and probably get beaten into a pulp. He, however, could not stop himself from gripping his beloved novel so tightly because he could not keep his face composed. He had to hide his facial expressions somehow and the book had to suffer.

"We met a long time ago remember? Back at the academy? And I remember that you were the only person that would ever go up to me and actually be friends with me, so I wanted to thank you for that..."

Haruno and Kakashi were startled, although both for different reasons.

Haruno because she received a well thought out and elaborate thanks from her clueless, though not entirely insensitive, teammate. He would often just spout out the single word when and at the time he felt it was due, but never a reasoning or about something so far back. So seeing her teammate that resembled the sun do something of this sort was unusual to her and caused her to give him her full attention.

Kakashi was about to implode. He was finally going to get his confession! After all, when a person gives examples of kindness that another person did for them from time ago, it always leads to them confessing something of great importance! He then turned his gaze to a confused, but suspicious Sasuke. How would Sasuke react to the incoming confession? Would he proclaim his confession too? Would this spark a showdown between the two boys? Kakashi was dying from the anticipation.

"Uhm, you don't need to thank me Naruto..."

"I also have a favor to ask!"

"Uh, yes?!" Haruno asked startled.

"I...I" Naruto glared at the ground before he looked up into Haruno's eyes. "I love-"

Kakashi spazzed. Here it comes! Sasuke gasped and glared at Naruto.

"I love...I love the way you make ramen! And I'm suffering! I haven't gone this long without ramen! So will you please make me some?!" Naruto cried as he held his stomach.

Sasuke and Kakashi fell over. What the actual what?! The two groaned. The idiot was being all dramatic over ramen! Ramen!

Haruno blinked, but laughed afterwards. "Sure I'll make you some Naruto."

Naruto grinned up at her.

Haruno's smile deadpanned. "Right when we get home."

Now it was Naruto's time to fall over. "But Haru! I want some now!"

"No Naruto. Besides we don't even have the ingredients to make ramen." Haruno scolded.

Naruto pouted. "Fine."

xXxXx

The trio went through a rigorous training session the days following. Kakashi feared that Zabuza would find them eventually and he wanted to prepare them as much as possible before he did. After their training, they headed out with Tazuna to observe and make sure that the builders are safe.

However, with the presence of the four ninja, the other bridge builders became more nervous. They knew that the arrival of the ninja meant that disaster could strike at any moment. The ninja could only watch as with every day that passed, more builders came up to Tazuna and apologized before leaving and not returning the next day to help or the following days.

Eventually, it came down to only half of the original amount of workers. And because of that the bridge's completion date was extended further and further. Tazuna could only grit his teeth and continue working with whoever was still willing to work with him. Even Tazuna's closest coworkers plead with him to stop the construction, but Tazuna would not listen to them and continued working.

The younger ninja looked on in pity and sadness. Naruto and Haruno would often plead with Kakashi to help Tazuna, but Kakashi always denied the request, for they needed to be at their best condition if they would even have a chance at beating Zabuza.

xXxXx

The five were walking to the bridge when they noticed the disaster that was left at the bridge. The workers had all collapsed, with various injuries covering their bodies. Tazuna ran over to try and wake them. A fog began to form out of nowhere and covered the bridge.

Kakashi sighed. He closed his book and tucked it into his coat pocket. "He's here."

A figure emerged from out of the fog. "Missed me?" a hoarse voice called out.

"I can't say I did." Kakashi responded.

"You hurt my feelings Kakashi. I thought we were having a pleasant meeting last time until you rudely decided to leave."

"Well why don't we finish our little confrontation then Zabuza? Just you and me."

"Let's see if you can keep up this time Kakashi."

He grew rigid when he noticed another presence. His eyebrow rose, "you brought a friend?" Kakashi deadpanned, betraying any sort of nervous feelings he had about the confrontation.

"Of course, what kind of person would I be if I hadn't let my underling join in on the fun?" Zabuza replied.

"Because your morals completely dictate your actions, right Zabuza?" Kakashi glared.

Zabuza grinned. "Of course." He beckoned the figure to come forward. It appeared to be someone just slightly older than the trio were. They couldn't tell the gender of the person because their face was covered by a mask.

"I'll be busy fighting with Kakashi, I need you to take care of those three, got that." Zabuza ordered. The figure nodded in response.

"I didn't catch that what did you say?" Zabubza turned back to the figure.

"Understood."

Naruto ran forward a bit startling the other four. "I recognize that voice!" He said, but only the genin heard.

"What?!"

Naruto nodded. "Uh huh. I met that guy at the clearing when I was doing my solo training!"

_Flashback_

_The wind blew through the trees making the branches sway and the leaves shake. There was a boy laying a midst a ring of trees. He was sleeping peacefully after an exhausting himself and quickly fell asleep as soon as he hit the ground. Birds had soon began to gather near him after seeing that nothing would wake him and snuggled next to him for warmth. __He stayed there all night and well into the early morning. The birds continued to peck around him, until another presence was felt and they flew to the safety of the skies. _

_The person sat next to the slumbering boy and called out for him to wake up, but the boy did not stir._

_Slightly annoyed the individual called out louder and shook the boy's shoulder. Finally, the boy responded and began to stir._

_"Hello."_

_"Huh?" the boy, Naruto, said. He was startled at seeing the bright blue sky instead of the top of a ceiling as he woke up. He immediately sat out and shook his head to see his surroundings, before finally setting his gaze on the person that woke him up. It appeared to be a very pretty, young woman with black hair to her shoulders and a pink kimono._

_"Oh, hi."_

_"I found you laying here. Did you perhaps sleep here all night?"_

_"Ah! I guess..." Naruto chuckled at himself. The woman laughed shyly along with him._

_"What are you doing here onee-san?" Naruto asked._

_"Eh?" the woman blinked, "Oh, I was just picking herbs that look like these." She showed him her basket that was half full of herbs already._

_"Oh! I'll help you."_

_"Thank you." She smiled softly._

_They were diligently picking herbs when the woman suddenly spoke. "That headband..."_

_"Eh?"_

_"Tell me, are you a ninja?"_

_"Yup!" Naruto grinned widely as he adjusted the said headband on his forehead. _

_"Then do you have someone precious to you? Someone you fight for? Someone you want to protect?"_

_"Ah, I guess I have a few people..." Naruto trailed off._

_"That's good." The woman smiled again. "Having someone precious to you gives you a reason to become strong, doesn't it?"_

_"Yeah!" Naruto cheered._

_The woman giggled again._

_Finally, the two had finished filling the basket full with medicinal herbs. The woman stood up and bid Naruto farewell. She took a few steps before she turned her head back at the boy._

_"One last thing..."_

_"Yeah?" Naruto asked with interest._

_"I'm a boy." The now revealed male said._

_"EHHH?!" Naruto yelled into the forest._

_End Flashback_

"I'm positive that's the same guy I was with in the clearing!" Naruto yelled to his teammates.

"Do you know anything about him that could give us the advantage?" Haruno asked.

"Not really..." Naruto looked down. "I still can't believe that it's him..."

"Unfortunately, this is the reality Naruto and it's time to face it." Haruno said, never taking her eyes off of their enemies.

"Enough talk." Zabuza glared coldly. "Time to finish you all!"

Kakashi jumped to avoid the slash of Zabuza's sword and they fought away from the remaining ninja and Tazuna.

"I apologize, but I must defeat you for Master Zabuza commands it." The male spoke monotonously and began to run forward, armed with a senbon.

Sasuke ran forward to meet the boy halfway and to parry his senbon with his own kunai.

"Please stop! I know who you are!" Naruto yelled out. "You're that guy I met at the clearing right?!"

The boy stopped mid attack. He stepped back a few feet. "Yes. I am he."

He ran forward once again to fight in close combat with Sasuke. The two fought back and forth, Sasuke being at the clear disadvantage. Haruno launched a few weapons at the boy to take his attention away from Sasuke. The boy turned his attention to Haruno and began a mid range fight of senbon throwing, but Haruno managed to flit around the senbon and drew back enough to allow Sasuke to get a few hits in. Naruto was still in shock, but snapped out of it, when he saw his teammates fighting the boy.

"Please stop fighting with that mask! At the very least if you're going to fight us at least take the mask off!" Naruto screamed.

The boy did nothing until he heard the voice of his master as the older men began to fight back in their direction. "Do it boy. Might as well?" Zabuza gazed at the orange clad ninja. "Consider it a sort of last request before you die brat." Zabuza then proceeded to continue his battle with Kakashi.

The boy stepped back once again and Sasuke jumped back to his teammates and ward. "Very well. Since you are aware of my identity and Master Zabuza has allowed it, it is of no use to me to hide my face." He reached behind his head to undo the knot.

The mask clattered to the ground and the boy's face was revealed.

Haruno stilled at the sight of the boy's face. "Impossible, I..."

Naruto and Sasuke turned to their third teammate. "What's wrong Haruno?"

Haruno did not respond and instead stepped forward, some distance away from her team to be closer to the boy.

"Haku-nii?" she whispered.

The boy seemed to be paralyzed with by the sound that came from her mouth and with wide eyes stepped closer to her.

"Imouto?"

Crystal tears began to flow from Haruno's eyes. Her brother was alive this whole time and now...she has to fight him.

* * *

><p>I will attempt to finish it all tomorrow! Please review!<p>

Japanese: English

genin: low rank ninja

onee(-san): older sister

senbon: needle

kunai: a ninja weapon used for stabbing and throwing. Has a diamond shaped tip and has a ring on the other end.

-nii: suffix; older brother

imouto: little sister


	14. Chapter 12

As promised we are heading loser and closer to the conclusion of my (admittedly terrible) fanfiction. A million thank yous to everyone who read, favorited, followed, and reviewed for this story!

Enjoy~!

* * *

><p>"Nii-san." Haruno breathed.<p>

"Imouto-chan," Haku responded.

The two stepped forward until they were arms length apart. The cries of the two boys and the old man were not heard by either of them. The two drew out their hands, causing the others to gasp and grow silent at what was going to happen next.

The two stood in front of each other. Their hands reached out to each other and met in between their bodies. Their palms met and their fingers interlaced. They sighed as their foreheads touched. They smiled sweetly at one another. The one person that meant the most to them in the world was alive and there with them. The two couldn't begin to express their alacrity.

The two drew a slight distance to talk to each other.

"Saku-chan...it's really you," Haku whispered.

"Saku-chan?" Haruno tilted her head in confusion.

"Don't you remember your name?" Haku asked in disbelief.

"My name is Haruno..." she trails off.

"Yes, Saku Haruno. Oh, imouto I thought you died..." Haku seemed on the verge of tears. He gave her that heartbreaking smile that he did before they last saw each other.

"Haku-nii, I missed you so much..." Haruno, or rather Saku, choked out while gripping her brother's hand even tighter. Her face fell unto his chest as more silent tears flowed down her face.

The two were all of a sudden pulled apart from each other by the two adults. Haku was about to run back towards his younger sister, but he was then stopped by Zabuza. Oh, right. His eyes hardened as he looked to his sister who seemed almost about to cry at his expression. That look was devastating to him. A saddened expression formed on his face.

"I'm sorry Imouto, but Zabuza is my master and I have to follow his orders. Please step back and let us do our job and Zabuza-san might let you go." Haku said as he pulled out more senbon from his sleeves and pointed them at Saku's team. "Then after all this is over, then, you and I could go live together, like we used to...Please Imouto, move aside, please Imouto, for me..." Haku plead to his baby sister.

Saku was gasping and leftover tears slid down her face, the shock clear on her face. Everyone anticipated her answer. Should she side with her beloved older brother and abandon her allies, or should she stick true to her village, but betray her last blood relative? Time was running out and she had to decide now. Her brother or her village? She made her decision, albeit a difficult one.

She forced herself to steel her face. "I'm sorry Nii-san. I can't let you do that. Just like you have to protect Zabuza-san, I have to protect my teammates." She plucked a kunai from her pouch and drew it close to her face. Her team and ward brightened with relief, while her brother's expression was devastated.

"I see. Then, I'm sorry it had to come to this little sister, but it seems a fight between us is inevitable." Haku said, eyes blank. He drew enough senbon to have one in each space in between his fingers.

"So it would seem." Saku said, her voice dead. She straightened from her position and let her kunai clatter to the ground. She also took off her belt that had her weapon pouches and let them fall to the ground. She picked up the two that had her senbon and tied one to each side of her hip. Not once did she turn around to see her allies.

"What are you doing Haru?!" Naruto asked. He was still in shock from learning that his friend was a girl much less that he was related to that boy!

"You'll need them more than I will. Especially when fighting against Zabuza." Saku responded as she retied her belt. Her eyes never left her brother on the other side of the impromptu battlefield.

"Wait, what? You aren't going to-" Naruto gasped.

"Yes, I'm going to fight my brother," Saku replied as she tugged tightly on her headband that was on her neck and retied it so that it was set on her forehead.

"But Saku-"

"No, Naruto, she has to fight her brother. It needs to end and she needs closure." Sasuke interrupted.

"Thank you for letting me do this Sasuke, but it's not for the reason you think. My intention is not to kill my brother. I'm fighting my brother because I'm the only one skilled enough to fight him." Saku said with a deadpanned expression.

"Tch. Doubt that Haruno." The Uchiha pride shone through once again.

"You'll see Uchiha. My brother is way above both of your levels and so am I."

"Enough. You will all face defeat." Haku said as he threw the senbon in his hands at them before launching himself after.

"I won't let you hurt them!" Saku yelled as she ran towards her brother while simultaneously batting away the senbon with her own.

The two were running at incredible speeds towards each other. Two senbon clashed as they met, neither gaining the upper hand.

"Hmm. Looks like both of our students are on par, huh Zabuza." Kakashi chortled.

"Be quiet Kakashi! I didn't expect less from Haku's sibling at this level, but once Haku goes all out she's a goner!" Zabuza laughed darkly.

"What?! He's not at his max level right now?!" Naruto was shocked. Even Sasuke was surprised.

"Of course not, twit. Haku has been training far longer than your pink haired friend." Zabuza explained.

"You've learned a lot and battled well little sister. But, you can't make any jutsu now that one of your hands has been incapacitated and there are some techniques that I have not taught you." Haku said as he made hand signs with his other hand.

"What?" Saku said as she watched her brother swiftly perform one handed signs.

"1,000 Needles of Death Jutsu!" Haku yelled out. They both moved at the last possible second far away from each other. Haruno unwrapped her scarf and used it to catch any of the senbon that she couldn't dodge. The needles pierced the solid rock and impaled the scarf, yet none drew blood.

"It would seem that you are much better than I thought little sister." Haku stated as he eased out of his crouch.

"I told you that I was the only one strong enough to take you on, Nii-san." Saku said as she tossed away the scarf and assumed the same position. Haku's pants and overcoat as well as Haruno's skirt flowed in the breeze.

"Yes you did and I am proud that you are the only one strong enough to take me on." Haku said with a slight smile. In the background, Sasuke ground his teeth.

"Thank you nii-san, but you digress." Saku spoke as she created an array of senbon needles out of the water that was on the floor from the previous attack.

"Indeed I do. En garde." Haku said as he ran towards his sister again.

The two again were at a standstill when Saku pulled another senbon and attempted to stab Haku with the other senbon, but he ducked and Saku kicked him in the face making him skid across the stone bridge.

"Enough games Haku! I don't care if she is your sister you are not allowed to go easy on her. Do I make myself clear Haku!" Zabuza roared.

Haku's picked himself up off the ground. "Yes. Forgive me Zabuza. Imouto. The time has come for me to finish this." Haku said placing his hands into an unfamiliar hand sign. Curious, Saku observed her brother's movements.

"Indeed it has." Saku spoke as she memorized her brother's hand sign. She also took note of his use of chakra.

"Secret Jutsu: Crystal Ice Mirrors!" Saku watched as mirrors made out of ice came to creation.

Kakashi gasped. "What!"

Zabuza laughed darkly. "This, this is Haku's signature ability- no one can escape his mirrors."

Kakashi glared. "It's a bloodline limit isn't it?"

'Bloodline limit? Then that means-' Saku attempted to recreate the same hand sign as her brother and the same amount of chakra.

'I should be able to do it as well!" In the middle of her concentration, something registered in her subconscious. Instead of her brother's twist of his index fingers, Saku twisted her ring fingers.

The following words flew out of her mouth, almost as if she were possessed. "Secret Jutsu!"

The others turned in shock to see the pinkette.

"Secret Jutsu!" She repeated. "Jewel Ice mirrors!"

Mirrors of Saku's creation appeared merging with Haku's. The only noticeable difference between the two mirrors were that Haku's mirrors had a blue sheen to them, while Saku's glittered pink.

Then before everyone's eyes a cage made out of ice mirrors was formed. Haku and Saku were completely absorbed into mirrors opposite of each other, both of their images reflected onto their signature mirrors. The reflections were evened out.

"I see that you have also inherited the bloodline Imouto." Haku said.

"What?! That brat also has the Haruno bloodline! But, that Jutsu is different from Haku's!" Zabuza raged as he turned back towards the two siblings.

The leaf nin were left in shock as both Saku and Haku parried with blows to quick to be seen by the naked eye. Only Kakashi and Sasuke who had the Sharigan were able to see the two exchange hits. Kakashi, was distracted however, engaged in combat with Zabuza to defend the other two genin.

Scratches appeared on both Haku's and Saku's pale skin. Some were bleeding quite a bit, while others barely pierced the skin. Both made a different series of hand signs as their attacks launched against each other.

"1,000 needles of death!" The 1,000 ice needles formed from the water and launched towards Saku's reflections.

"Ice weapon storm!" Weapons of different kinds-senbon, kunai, shuriken, and katana-were formed from the water and launched at Haku reflections.

Both of the nin either dodged the weapons with their speed or blocked them with their senbon. However, some managed to hit their marks, Saku being less experienced, had more cuts on her skin than her brother. She was huffing with the strain put on her body since moving at such a speed was difficult and used a lot of energy. Not to mention the use of her chakra that was necessary to use her bloodline limit.

"You're slowing down Imouto. Your chakra reserves are much too low to hold this jutsu for long. Not to mention your other jutsus you perform."

Saku growled lowly under her breath. "Don't think you've won yet Haku-nii," she wheezed.

"Perhaps not, but it shouldn't take you long to submit and admit your defeat." Haku spoke coldly. He then went through the required hand signs for another deadly needles jutsu. Saku barely managed to weave through the needles to avoid major damage and only three more minor cuts as she merged with a different mirror. As soon as Saku tried to find an opening and leave the mirror to attack, Haku would be ready with either another jutsu or a barrage of senbon needles shooting in her direction. Saku would then merge into another mirror and wipe the blood running down her new injury.

By the end of the cycle, Saku was littered with cuts. Haku was finally beginning to tire and cuts marred his body, all in different sizes caused by senbon, kunai, shiruken, and katana slice alike.

"This has gone on long enough Imouto."

"I couldn't agree more."

The two then drew themselves our of the crystal mirrors leaving them standing across from each other inside the cage.

"Let it be one-on-one."

"Senbon-to-senbon."

"Brother-to-sister."

Both Haku and Saku pulled out senbon from their clothing and gripped them close to their torsos.

"This shall be the end."

"Agreed."

"The last one standing shall be the victor."

"The one down is left in shame."

"And it shall be you!" The two yelled out before clashing midway again. The force the two exerted varied. One would push hard and the other quickly retaliated and pushed harder still. Their blank expressions masked their determined glares.

* * *

><p>Ack. So I wasn't able to finish by my desired deadline...anyway I will continue to update this regularly. This should be done in less than a week. Please anticipate the next chapter and Happy New Year 2015!<p>

Japanese: English

Nii(-san): older brother

Imouto(-chan): younger sister

senbon: needles

kunai: ninja weapon usually ending in a pointed diamond on one end and a circular ring on the other end; mainly used for stabbing and throwing

shuriken: ninja weapon; throwing stars

katana: slightly curved sword


	15. Omake 2

Hello my wonderful readers! Here's another bonus chapter for you all to read! It's happy at first, but ends at a rather morbid point, I apologize...

**IMPORTANT: Based off of people's reviews, I will choose the official ending to this story, so remember to review! Especially for the lives of your favorite characters~! I will update the next chapter in a day or two, so do not delay! (Unlike me :P)**

Enjoy~!

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><p><strong>OMAKE<strong>

"Onii-san!" A childish voice giggled. It was accompanied by the sound of an older, more boyish chuckle. The two children collided with one another and fell in a heap among tiny bunches of flowers. The snow had finally receded after a harsh winter and late blooming spring. Their laughs continued as they sat up and plucked flowers and pieces of grass from each others clothes and little girl's pink locks swayed with the breeze along with her brother's dark brown locks. They picked flowers from the ground and began to make flower decorations for each other.

The two children are the Haruno siblings and they were inseparable. Even their parent's would laugh at their antics and wonder how the two had grown so attached to each other. The villagers couldn't resist smiling when they saw the two children run around the village. Why run, you might ask? It was because, although quite young, the elder brother had his own group of fan girls in the village that would often chase the duo around town.

However, the two were at peace in their little hidden meadow. The two little Haruno kids would always go visit the meadow whenever the weather became warmer. It was to celebrate the coming of spring and to see the plum blossoms in bloom after surviving the winter. Haku had just finished making the crown and placed it on the head of his cute little sister who looked admiringly at the wreathe. It was made out of intersecting flowers of all different colors. There were peonies, chrysanthemums, azaleas, and many others interlaced into the crown.

Saku finished tying the ends of her chrysanthemum necklace and she put it on her brother. The ring of flowers rested gently against his chest and the boy smiled warmly at his sister before thanking her. Saku only used chrysanthemums when making something out of flowers for Haku. When he asked her why she only used chrysanthemums she would reply that his name meant "white" and only the chrysanthemums were white.

The two stood up from their spot on the ground and turned to watch the little plum blossoms on the trees surrounding them.

"Ne, Nii-san..." Saku spoke.

"Yes, what is it Imouto-chan?"

"We'll always be together right? Forever?" Saku turned to her brother.

"That's right Saku, we'll be just like these plum trees." Haku declared.

"Like a plum blossom tree?"

"Yup! I'll be the tree that is strong and supports us and you'll be the flowers, pretty and always blooming!" Haku smiled. Saku smiled hugely and giggled. She hugged her brother tightly. He always knew what to say to make her feel better.

xXxXx

The two silently walked out of the garden and scanned the area ahead. They snuck behind several buildings and hid in the shadows, but their luck soon ended. There were in the center of the village which had a wide open gap to get to the other side where their house was. The two looked at each other and sighed. Their fate was inevitable. They slowly walked into the sunlight and a peal of squeals were heard as the boy went into view. The siblings drew in a breath as they ran as fast as their legs could carry them to avoid the large group of girls chasing after them.

They ran through the vendors and market to avoid the girls. They swiftly rushed through incoming people and met up once again at the end of the market, their pursuers lost in the chaos of the market.

The two gulped in huge breathes of air and huffed before marching on home. The two sat down on the ground in front of their house and were subjected to the chuckles of their parents. The siblings pouted at their mother and father.

"Alright, let's get you all inside before you get sick," their mother laughed, her dark red, almost black, hair twirled with her as she turned around back to the house. She tried to compose herself, but they could all see the mirth swimming in her emerald eyes.

"Your mother's right kids! Let's go before the snow decides to come back and freeze us all over again!" Their dad joked. He raked a hand through his light chestnut (almost white in some places) hair. His brown eyes looked into the distance, almost fearing that his prediction would come true. He pushed his children along into the house and closed the door behind him, before lighting a fire to warm the family. The two laughed and enjoyed spending time together and talking about their day, before reading a story and going to bed.

xXxXx

A bucket filled with water fell with a dull thud unto the ground.

"What are you two doing!" their mother screeched as she ran over to where Haku was showing Saku something that he discovered while training. She grasped Haku's wrist tightly in her hand.

Haku flinched. "Kaa-san, you're hurting me..."

Saku ran at her mother and hugged her legs. "Please Kaa-san! Stop hurting onii-san!" Saku wailed.

She gasped and released her grip on her son. She fell to her knees and hugged her two children close. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." she spoke into their shoulders.

"It's okay Kaa-san. We forgive you." The two siblings echoed each other.

"No. No it isn't and because of that now the two of you are in danger." She lifted her head to be at eye level with the two. "Promise me-both of you-that you won't do something like that ever again." She spoke with a stern tone, dead serious.

The two siblings could only look at each other in confusion. What was their mother so guilty about?

xXxXx

"Stop! Please! Gyaaaaa!" The scream rang out even up to where they were. The two whipped their heads toward the scream. They knew well who it was that yelled.

"Kaa-san!" the siblings yelled as they ran home as fast as their legs would carry them.

Their footsteps thudded dully on the snow as they ran into the house from the back door. They barged into the house and saw their mother collapsed on the floor. Bright red liquid surrounded her body. The two children looked up in shock to see their father wielding a wooden pole. It was stained crimson, along with their father's clothes. They could also see tears flowing like streams from their father's face.

Villagers were accumulated at the entrance of their home. They seemed overjoyed at seeing the still and bloodied image of their mother on the floor.

"You know what you have to do Hiroaki-san! The spawn of that woman Akanemi need to be destroyed as well. Tonight we complete The Purge!" one of the villagers yelled out as they looked at the two with hatred. The other villagers that were in the house yelled their support.

Tears welled in their eyes and the siblings looked at their father for salvation, but they were met with his tear filled face as he lifted the pole high to end them as well. "This is all your mother's fault..."

"No! Tou-san!" the two wailed and ran out of the way as their father swung at them. The two figured quickly that the only way to make it out alive was to run aas far away as possible. The two sprinted for the door, but Haku was pulled back by the scruff of his shirt and tossed to a corner. The pink haired girl skidded to a stop.

"Haku-nii!" Saku screamed out to her brother.

"Saku! Keep running!" Haku yelled.

"You all go for the girl! We'll stay here and take care of the boy!"

"But Nii-san-!"

"Go! I'll be fine! I'll find a way out of this and we'll be together again!"

"Haku-nii!" Saku cried as she ran into the forest. The villagers chased after her. She ran to their meadow and stopped to gaze at the plum trees. The blossoms were covered in snow.

"Haku-nii, you promised that we'd be together, but now I'm all alone." Saku spoke to herself.

An image of when she and Haku would play in the meadow flickered in her fleeting and long ago those joyful moments seemed to be. She heard the angry bellows of the villagers and continued to run.

* * *

><p>I am such a terrible person... Remember to review and save your favorite characters! They need your support to stay alive in the horrible Fanfiction Games!<p>

Japanese: English

Onii/Nii(-san): older brother

Imouto(-chan): little sister

Ne: Hey

Hiroaki: means "widespread brightness"

Akanemi: means "brilliant red beauty"

Tou(-san): dad


	16. Chapter 13

DUN DUN DUN DUN! THIS IS THE DRAMATIC CONCLUSION OF 'HAKU-NII?'! I ALSO JUST NOTICED THAT (NOT COUNTING THE OMAKES) THIS IS CHAPTER 13! OOOH~!

BASED OFF OF POPULAR DEMAND, I PRESENT TO YOU THIS ENDING! AND HOPEFULLY IT IS LONG ENOUGH!

**WARNING: Things get a little bit edgy near the middle...**

Enjoy~!

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><p>Naruto couldn't help the narrowing of his eyes followed by the forming of the tiny droplets known as tears as he watched the siblings go at it. It-this-was just so wrong. Cuts began to appear on the skin of the two, yet the two never wavered in their attacks. It was so obvious that these siblings loved each other very much. So why were they fighting? They shouldn't be trying to hurt each other, but even as Naruto asked himself this, he could see that the elder brother had his hands tied. And the little sister-his best friend-didn't want her friends get hurt, even if it meant that she had to go against her brother. Her eyes had lost the shine they had before the battle. Why? Why is this happening?<p>

Sasuke, on the other hand, only looked coldly at the battle. Was this how it would go down once he faced his brother? Would they parry blows like this until one of them slipped and the other took his life? No. Sasuke's eyes darkened. He would not give his brother the chance to retaliate at all. He would overwhelm Itachi and he would fall, just as he had caused the fall of their family. He would be the avenger.

The two siblings jumped back once again, their senbon launching through the air at each other. A senbon was pulled out of their sleeves which they used to knock the senbon away. The needles twirled and clattered loudly on the ground. The two stopped and huffed for more air before leaping at each other again.

Their super human speed made them seem like nothing more than shadows drifting close before floating to opposite sides to drift together once again.

New cuts blossomed with every confrontation. Their blood would trickle and burst once they hit the ground, but neither would stop as long as they still had something to fight for.

Sasuke grit his teeth. He hated to admit it, but it would seem that he truly was no match for the elder Haruno sibling, or the younger for that. How did such that feminine boy, who turned out to be the girl he so wanted him to be, manage to dart at such speed? Was it her bloodline? She showed no signs of being capable of doing such a feat, even way back in their academy days. It was the only possible solution, unless...Sasuke's hands balled into tight fists. Unless she was holding back. That would explain how she was able to fight those mist ninja when they ambushed them and survived that huge gash to her midsection. She made herself seem pathetic all this time. Was she trying to protect their farce? Or was she trying to make them believe that they were strong all this time? Was that it? Was she trying to make it seem that he was the strong boy that could protect her like he believed he was? He growled in anger. How could she? If he kept getting deluded like this he would never get stronger! His brother would never sit around and pretend that Sasuke was stronger and allow him to kill him!

Saku wheezed and stumbled until she fell into one leg. Her stinging cuts and quickly diminishing chakra were quickly catching up to her. She only had about roughly five minutes until her body and chakra gave out. She gazed in front of herself. Although her brother was in a better condition than she was, he probably couldn't last much longer either.

Haku tried to breathe in calmly, but he was still panting. He was sure he was suffering the same affects as his sister was. His internal clock was ticking towards the time when his body would shut down to preserve itself.

Both were quickly running out of time. It was the moment to strike-the moment that would decide everything. The two met once again and struck. They turned until they were facing each other once again on opposite sides.

Both seemed fine until...

Saku flinched. Her brother's previously launched senbon became lodged in her calf causing her to draw in her left leg to her body and attempt to hobble on one foot.

"Dammit!" She growled. Haku noticed that his sister was incapacitated and swiftly delivered a blow to his sister's side. Saku choked out blood before harshly skidding back on her foot and knee. The senbon that littered the ground snapped up to injure her as she went through them. Her left leg looked like a pin cushion. She grit her teeth agains the pain of the injury as well as her now broken ribs.

Haku landed on his hand and feet in a semi-crouched position. He straightened himself out before attacking Saku again.

He raised his senbon to deliver the finishing blow. Saku reacted just in time and twisted her left leg up to kick him in the chin. Saku screamed against the agony that flared in her leg. Haku was then sent sailing into the air before brutally crashing into the ground and skidding a few feet. Discarded senbon dug into his skin. Haku flinched at the feel of his shredded jaw and broken shoulder. It seemed that he also severed some of the major muscles in his legs thanks to the discarded senbon, making them useless. It seemed that in the end he was the one to lose. He laid there on the ground in defeat, though he couldn't bring himself to be upset at his loss.

Saku shakily got back up on her feet. She pulled out the last remaining senbon out of her body and tossed them to the floor. They made light clinks as they resounded through the mist. Saku then pulled out her last senbon out of sleeve. Her hair billowed in the wind as she approached her brother.

She gazed at her brother. He turned to her. "Kill me."

It seemed as if a switch turned in her mind. She blinked and the realization of what had occurred seemed to set in as she stared at her brother, beaten, and then at the senbon in her hand. She gasped and the senbon fell to the ground. The hollow plink resounded in the mist.

"Nii-san I-"

"Imouto, kill me, kill me now."

"Nii-san! I would nev-"

"Please." He pled. "I am now nothing more than a broken weapon. I have failed Zabuza."

"Nii-san please!" Saku whimpered. "Try to see reason! We could become a family again!"

"We can not. Your new home is in the village hidden in the leaves. Mine is with Master Zabuza." Haku gazed at the clouds. ''Now that I don't serve a purpose to Zabuza, I have no home."

"But, I could- the village-!"

"We both know that your village would never accept me." Saku choked on her sobs. "I am a missing nin from mist. They would only turn me in to mist and kill me anyway." Haku said as he reached for the needle. "Please do me this favor and allow me to die by your hands." He pushed the needle into his sister's hands and held them tightly in his own.

Haruno shakily lifted the senbon as it trembled within her grasp above her brother's heart.

"Thank you," Haku spoke as he closed his eyes, a tiny smile on his face.

Saku let out another sob before sharply bringing down the senbon.

Just before it came into contact, Haku gripped her hand.

"Ah-!"

"I can't let you kill me yet. It seems I still have a duty to complete."

Haku then blurred out of existence. Saku's head turned frantically from side to side. Where was he and what was that one thing he still had to do? He said that he lived for his master...Saku then remembered that they were not the only one's fighting. She turned her head to were the others were battling and only heard the crackle of thunder...Oh no. Saku screamed.

"NOOOOOO!"

xXxXx

Haku felt a body crash against his knocking from his stance in front of Zabuza to crash through his mirror of ice. The two bodies collided into the ground, staring at the spot where the final visible sparks of blue lightning diffused. His master was surprisingly unharmed as well, leaving the adults in shock at what had just occurred.

Haku, who was fully prepared to relinquish his life for his master, stared in awe at his younger sister who looked at him with anger, tears pooling at the ends of her eyes.

"Don't you dare attempt to sacrifice yourself Haku!" Saku yelled, completely forgoing the honorific.

"Imouto.." Haku looked on, shocked at his sister's declaration. He was still trying to wrap his head around what happened.

"How touching," Zabuza dead panned. "You have failed me Haku." Zabuza looked down at his younger partner.

"I-" Haku's head fell. He was conflicted. He had found his long lost sister that still loved him enough to save him from death even after their match, but he had failed Zabuza, the man that gave him another chance at life.

"Don't talk to Haku-nii like that!" Saku yelled at the man.

"Tch. I can talk to him how I see fit, pinky." Zabuza glared at the genin.

Sakura growled lowly in her throat. Her brother looked at her with a defeated expression.

"Saku-" Haku was interrupted.

"Enough!" Zabuza barked. He turned towards Haku. "You are no longer my apprentice!" Zabuza swung his sword downwards to slice through Kakashi.

Haku and Saku gasped in horror. Haku for being disowned and Saku for her sensei. But, Kakashi managed kick him away. The two older men began to fight once again.

Haku was shaking slightly as Saku gripped his shoulders and began flailing him around. "Haku-nii! Haku-nii!" she yelled. Haku finally managed to twist his fave to meet his sister's. She was sporting a giant grin, which confused him. What is making her so happy?

"Haku-nii this is wonderful!" Saku smiled. "This means that we can take you back to the village cause now you have no afiliation to any village! And we could always twist the situation and just tell everyone that you were held against your will. Besides, you're my brother! They'll have to make an exception seeing as how we have a bloodline!"

Haku flinched. This time it was his turn to grasp his sister's shoulders. "Saku-chan, that is what caused all of this to happen in the first place! It was because of this dreaded bloodline that we are fighting against each other instead of living together peacefully!" Haku looked away. "If Zabuza had not wanted my tainted blood...I would have died!" Haku yelled into his sister's face. "Do not ever treat this bloodline as a blessing Saku...please." Haku whispered.

Saku looked down at her brother. "Does this mean that I am also tainted Nii-san?" she asked.

"Unfortunately yes, Saku-chan." Haku replied.

"Am I not fit to be by your side then?" Saku narrowed her eyes. Haku gasped. A long time ago, Haku mentioned how the village girls were all tainted because they were all vain and rude. He used to say that only someone who was pure could be by his side. He said that his sister was pure and thus, the only one able to be by his side.

"Saku...that's not what I meant." Haku spoke.

"Really? Then what did you mean Onii-san?" Haku flinched. Saku only called him onii-san when she was beyond upset with him.

"I-"

"Does Zabuza really mean so much to you? That you would nearly kill me," Haku flinched again, "yourself, and my friends? That you would say something like this? Ne, Onii-san?" Saku asked coldly.

"Saku, please understand. I never meant to say that. Even with our bloodline, I'm sure you have remained pure...As for Master Zabuza, he took me in when I was dying out on the streets. I was starving and I would only last another day if Zabuza had not found me. Because Zabuza did, I was able to grow stronger and I was able to meet you here. That's why he meant so much to me. He gave me a purpose and kept me alive long enough to see you again." Haku whimpered internally, he couldn't afford to break his ties with his sister, especially not now.

It seemed that her habit was catching up to her again. Saku could never stay mad at her Nii-san for too long. She sighed. "I forgive you Nii-san." Haku looked relieved at his sister's forgiveness. She then hit him on the head. "But you ever say anything or do anything stupid again and you will pay for it!" she promised. Haku rubbed at his new injury, but laughed nonetheless. Saku soon joined in.

They were cut off by the sound of the bridge cracking. They looked on to see their two teachers still locked in battle. Zabuza had his arms incapacitated by Kakashi, who now had a giant gash running down his whole midsection and was about to strike once again when a laugh was heard.

Gato had finally arrived. Saku felt kinda disappointed. With all the talk that swirled about this man, she thought that he would have been muscular and intimidating, as tall as a building and more skilled than Zabuza and Kakashi combined. However, it seemed that her speculation was all for nothing. In fact, it deemed quite the opposite. He was short, fat, and ugly to boot. The only thing he seemed capable of doing was running his mouth and hiding behind his hired men, like he was doing right now.

"And now you're all going to die!" Gato laughed along with the men. Saku quickly scanned through the men. None of them seem particularly skilled in anything other than street brawls, but they seem to get their confidence by being in such a large number.

"See, my men are going to kill all of you, but I can't afford to pay for all of them, so take some of them out before you die will ya?" Gato called as he walked further into the mob away from the ninja and impending fight.

"Well, it seems we no longer have anything to fight against for, Kakashi." Zabuza muttered.

"So it would appear."

"I've got this lot to deal with now." Zabuza said as he glared into the crowd.

"Let's call a truce Zabuza." Kakashi said, sheepish.

"Huh?"

"See, we can't let them win and tear the village down...otherwise we fail." Kakashi fake laughed.

"Fine. But don't get in my way!" Zabuza said as he ran forward into the men.

"Well, I can't let him get all the fun!" Kakashi said as he too leapt into the fray.

The siblings looked at the fight and then grinned at each other.

"The one who takes out the most guys wins?" Saku challenged.

"You're on." Haku agreed.

The two jumped up and began to slash their way through all of the men. They didn't want to kill them, just to incapacitate them for the time being. They shouted out numbers as they continued to slash their way through.

"3" Saku.

"9" Haku.

"16"

"23"

"37!" Saku cheered.

The raven haired boy and the blond turned to each other and really wanted to join, but they had to make sure that their ward was safe. Almost as if hearing their pleas for fighting, some of the man ran towards them and the two boys got to work.

In the end, all that was left were bodies and Zabuza hanging to life on a thread as he decided to just run through everyone to get to kill Gato.

"Well. I guess this is the end for me." Zabuza laughed darkly at his own demise.

"Master Zabuza don't-"

"Can it kid. I don't want to hear anything about how 'I'm going to be fine' or 'you'll be lost without me'." Zabuza interrupted. "Go be with that psychopath you call a sister. Honestly," Zabuza sighed. "How many men did you maim?"

"Eighty-three, but Haku-nii had to butt in and take 17 from me!" Saku pouted.

"All's fair in love and war, imouto-chan. Besides you won in the end anyway." Haku shrugged.

Kakashi looked up. Speaking of love and war...he looked at the boys. They seemed a little ruffled up, but they seemed fine.

Saku also seemed to remember her teammates existence and pulled her brother along with her to meet with them.

"Boys!" Saku waved frantically at her two teammates. The two looked up to see their newly revealed female teammate run up to them (along with her brother) battered, but alive. Naruto joyfully ran up to her and squeezed her as hard as he could. Saku wiggled in his grip. She was loosing air fast. "Na..ru..to! Let go!" The boy put her down and grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry. I'm just glad you're alive!" Naruto cheered.

"The idiot's right. Good to see that you're still in one piece." Sasuke walked up to them, hands in his pockets.

"Yeah. Great to see you guys okay too!" Saku said as she flitted around the three boys.

"Hey, Haruno! I have something to ask you!" Kakashi called out to her.

"Coming!" Saku yelled. "Gotta go!" she waved as she ran off.

"So the two of you are my sister's teammates huh?" Haku asked.

"Yup!" Naruto chirped. Sasuke just nodded his head.

"I hope the both of you have treated her with the kindness and respect she deserves." Haku said. The boys looked at each other before nodding.

"Good. 'Cause if you didn't I would have to kill you." Haku smiled. The two boys recoiled from his dark and oppressing aura.

"Just kidding!" The boys sighed internally in relief.

"No, but seriously. You two do anything to make my imouto upset and I will hurt you in ways you never thought possible." The dark aura was back and scarier than ever.

"Nice to meet the two of you!" Haku waved as he ran off to find his sister.

"He's scarier than Saku and Zabuza put together..." the two trailed off.

xXxXx

After having a funeral for Zabuza, who unfortunately did not make it through the night, the leaf ninja decided-were threatened by Saku-to bring Haku back with them to the leaf village.

In the end, they all had their ups and downs, shocking revelations and disappointments throughout this mission, but luckily they all made it out alive, along with the addition of Saku's older brother.

Said two siblings were holding hands as they walked and smiling at one another, remembering the day when they were younger.

**OWARI**

* * *

><p>Thanks to everyone who read, followed, favorited, and reviewed for this story. However! This (may) not be the end! If enough people request in their reviews, I may write and epilogue, alternative endings, or maybe even write a sequel (if people are up for waiting)!<p>

Japanese: English

Onii/Nii(-san): older brother

senbon: needle(s)

Imouto(-chan): little sister

Owari: End~ (Or is it?)


	17. Afterword: The Results are in!

Hey! Wisteria here announcing the results of the voting! I wanted to give you all time to respond, which is why I am barely updating now. So, all the votes are in and voting is now officially over!

**A SEQUEL**

Really now? You all are willing to put up with my random updates and terrible plots? You must all really have liked this story...Well if that is what you all want I will do the sequel, though be warned! I might probably take just as long or maybe even longer to finish the new one.

And for the last time on this fanfic, I would like to thank everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! You're all amazing!

So keep tabs on the sequel, which I will _most likely _be posting some time this week!

'Till next time!

~Wisteria out~


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